asked the Minister for the Environment if he has received representations from the Construction Industry Confederation or other parties in the construction industry outlining their concern at the effect of the shortage of bridging finance on house construction and building projects, and the measures he has taken—in addition to the moneys made available by the trustee savings banks—to ensure that the present scarcity of bridging finance will be alleviated.

I have received representations from the Construction Industry Federation and others about this matter and I am naturally concerned about and in constant touch with the situation. In this connection I would refer the Deputy to the reply to a similar question by him by the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance on 18 October 1979. The latest figures show that the amount of bridging accommodation outstanding by the associated banks was £182 million at mid-August, representing a 70 per cent increase over mid-August 1978, and a 43 per cent increase over mid-February 1979.

I am advised that, while conditions remain tight, bridging finance continues to be available. Building societies report that their approved applicants for mortgages continue to be able to get bridging finance. I am assured by the building societies that they are issuing mortgage loans as quickly as they can. In this connection they paid out the record sum of £58 million in the quarter ended 30 September last and estimate that they will advance an equivalent amount this quarter. These payments must have the effect of easing the situation.

(Cavan-Monaghan): Will the Minister agree that to the man in the street it seems a bit absurd that when an applicant negotiates a loan with a building society for, say, £16,000——

He negotiates?

(Cavan-Monaghan): Yes, he negotiates the approval and the loan is approved. He then has to go to the bank and negotiate bridging finance with them. Would the Minister investigate the possibility of getting the building societies to operate the entire transaction, and to provide the finance? What is going on at the moment does not make sense.

It may not make sense, but under the terms of the Building Societies Act they are prevented from doing so unless they have clear title, as we have been discussing recently. They will and can give approval for a loan to any person subject to conditions A, B and C, one of which would be the furnishing of a proper title. That will suffice for the bank to give a bridging loan but the building societies cannot give that bridging loan until they have proper title.

(Cavan-Monaghan): If the Minister looks into this thing closely enough he will find that once there is a contract between the applicants and the building society, the building society will grant a loan and the applicant will get a mortgage. On foot of that contract the building society should be able to provide bridging finance. If the Act needs to be amended to allow them to do that, the sooner it is amended the better. If the Minister comes in here with proposals to amend——

Question No. 12.

I would agree with the Deputy that it should be amended but this thing came to a head only in recent months.

Things have moved.

I agree with the Deputy that in order to facilitate people an amendment would be necessary and should be considered seriously.

(Cavan-Monaghan): The Minister is not firing any brickbats at me in that regard.

Does the Deputy see the point?

(Cavan-Monaghan): Delays must be cut out and every profession and Department of State——

I am calling Deputy Quinn while Deputy Fitzpatrick is making his speech.

So long as we do not forget the grants idea.

Deputies opposite are the people who stopped the grants.

We subsidised interest rates on mortgages.

(Cavan-Monaghan): Do not talk about cutting everything.

The Minister will be cut over the next weekend.

Obviously Deputy Killilea does not have to bother about getting bridging finance or mortgages. Having regard to the legal constraints which he has described, would the Minister consider the possibility of transferring to someone who has been approved for a loan with the building societies but who is unable to close because of lack of title and so forth, the benefit in terms of the interest earned by the loan approval? That would cost him about 14 per cent with the building society and it can be deposited at about 18 per cent with any other financial institution. In other words, the loan is approved in his or her name. It cannot be removed until such time as the sale is closed; it can be there for three, six or nine months earning interest at four per cent more than he or she would have to pay.

The Deputy has asked a question. There is no need to elaborate on it.

I want to ask one question. Perhaps I am not making myself clear to the Minister. Is there any way in which people are not caught in this usury situation?

The building societies claim that they prefer what gives a better return as far as they are concerned, that is loaning money for housing rather than other investments. I do not see how the 4 per cent difference arises in that respect.

About 30 per cent of their assets are currently invested in various securities.

It is a decreasing amount.

All earning more than 14 per cent.