asked the Minister for the Environment if he has any proposals to allow local authorities to enter into insurance schemes to help people who may have difficulty in repaying loans to the local authorities.

The question of the scope and need for insurance arrangements on the lines envisaged would be a matter for local authorities, which do not need my consent to take action of this kind. There are however a wide range of situations in which borrowers may experience difficulties in repaying loans to local authorities and an insurance, scheme covering all such situations may not be a practical proposition. In so far as SDA loans are concerned, it is normal practice for local authorities to adopt a sympathetic approach where borrowers are in genuine difficulties. In the case of loans made by the Housing Finance Agency via local authorities, the terms of the scheme, which provide for income-related payments, operate to protect borrowers against reduction in income.

Does the Minister agree that as a result of the local authorities being sympathetic in regard to loans there are now many people heavily in arrears? Some scheme will have to be introduced to alleviate the effects on local authorities.

The local authority may set up an insurance scheme and it is a matter for them. We have no function in this matter.

It is a national problem.

It is a matter for local housing authorities.