A non-EU national who applied for a Local Authority Home Loan claims that it has been denied on the basis of nationality in a ruling that was issued under guidance from a shadow policy that he has been refused access to.
The Indian national, whom Gript has been in contact with but who wishes to remain anonymous, made a joint application for the loan together with his wife to a county council earlier this year, which then forwarded the application to the Housing Agency for underwriting.
The Local Authority Home Loan (LAHL) requires of non-EU/EEA citizens making a joint application that they have lived legally in Ireland for a period of five years, or have leave to remain for five years’ residence, or that they have indefinite leave to remain in the State.
The applicants, the husband having lived and worked legally in Ireland since 2019 and the wife having legally immigrated to Ireland and being in possession of a Stamp 3 Join Spouse residence permit, had their first application refused due to what the underwriters considered insufficient documentation related to their residency status in Ireland.
This was despite the provision of all the documentation the local home authority loan application asked for, and additional immigration documentation that wasn’t requested.
The rejection cited LAHL policy that is not publicly available for viewing, despite legislation that requires the housing minister and relevant authorities to publish and make public guidelines issued under it.
The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, Section 5 (2) requires that the Minister “shall publish or cause to be published, in the manner he or she considers appropriate, any guidelines issued under this section”. Meanwhile, Section 5 (3) states that a housing authority “shall make available for inspection by members of the public, without charge, on the Internet and at its offices and such other places as it considers appropriate, during normal working hours, a copy of any guidelines issued to it under this section”.
A Parliamentary Question submitted by Aontú’s Peadar Tóibín in February of this year requesting clarity on the residency eligibility criteria for the LAHL scheme for non-EU/EEA applicants received a response confirming that the Credit Policy is made in accordance with the provisions of the above act and section, which means that it ought to be accessible to the public.
Despite this, the applicants submitted further documentation related to their immigration status in Ireland, which was sent by the county council to the Housing Agency’s underwriters.
This too was rejected, with the county council communication saying that they are considered ineligible because neither applicant has leave to remain extending to potentially permit five years’ residence.
The applicants did, and do, have permission to remain in the State, with the husband having a valid work permit that enables him to renew his residence permit every year. Following the second rejection, he renewed his residence permit three months early, which is now valid through to early 2025, to prove that his residence permit can be renewed every year through his valid work permit.
His wife being in possession of a Stamp 3, which allows her to remain in Ireland with her non-EU/EEA spouse who is based here on a valid work permit, both applicants have leave to remain in Ireland. The husband is also eligible this year for a Stamp 4 (permanent residency), which will allow him to work in Ireland without a work permit – a fact that the applicant had made the local authority aware of.
Following his renewed residency, the county council re-sent the application to the Housing Agency, which rejected the application for a third and final time. On this occasion, they acknowledged that the husband met their Credit Policy’s criteria for joint non-EU/EEA applicants, but ruled that his wife did not.
The Housing Loans Regulations 2021, Section 7 (c) provides that an applicant is eligible for a housing loan if each of the persons making the application has a right to reside in the State, which in this case, they do.
The male applicant has claimed that he believes the Housing Agency has engaged in unlawful discrimination against them, on the basis that the Equal Status Act 2000 prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality in the provision of services, including financial services as in this case.
The Act does allow for certain differential treatment based on nationality, but these are only permitted when they have been substantiated by actuarial and statistical data. The Minister for Housing, in response to a separate PQ submitted by Deputy Tóibín, acknowledged that they are in possession of no such data.
In response to yet another PQ in March of this year on the topic of LAHL applications, Minister Darragh O’Brien said that decisions on all housing loan applications must be made “in accordance with the Regulations establishing the scheme and the credit policy that underpins the scheme”.
As there is nothing apparent in the regulations barring the applicants in question from receiving approval for their LAHL loan, and considering the citation of LAHL Credit Policy in the rejections, the male applicant submitted a Freedom of Information request, seen by Gript alongside the rejection letters, to the Housing Agency, requesting among other things a copy of the guidelines issued by the minister according to which the residency criteria for non-EEA/EU applicants was added.
The request was refused, and after the applicant made an internal review request as is allowed for under the FOI Act 2014, the request was denied again.
This denial was made “in respect of information obtained in confidence by the Housing Agency”.
“The reason this exemption is being applied is due to the Housing Agency not having the authority to publish this record. This authority is with the Minister, and until such time as the Minister publishes this record, the Housing Agency is unable to release it,” the internal review decision stated.
With that being the case, it appears that a Credit Policy that ought to be made public under the Housing Act 2009, is rather being kept confidential and is nonetheless guiding the Housing Agency’s adjudication of Local Authority Home Loan applications in so far as non-EU/EEA applicants are concerned.
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No foreign nationals should be given any housing at a cost to the state. NONE. If we pay for these people to remain here how is it advantageous for the country?
They’ve ripped up the social contract !
The only thing and Indian is ever concerned about from my experience is themselves and their pocket. They are a tool of the nwo and is the reason why the tech industry is in the state it is and are behind the construction of our digital prison. If it is the case that he was denied because he is Indian, I agree with this completely, house the Irish first. How arrogant and selfish would you have to be to come to another country and sue for a free house because you don’t have the means to get one yourself. He would not get one in Indiana and has no right here. NGOs are all over this crap for sure.
Agreed! Heavy NGO vibes off this. Demanding rights that should only be available to Irish people. Would an Irish person go to India and expect or demand the same rights as the locals? The astonishing entitlement of foreigners in Ireland, astounds me. The deference of most Irish people to these grifters is also beyond comprehension.
I think the NGOs are trying to set a legal precedence here that the can use going forward to house illegals. If they win, they will use it going forward to house the illegals.
whats the point in complaining if ff/fg keep getting voted in and no mass protests like other normal countries seem to be able to do as in france holland germany , on tipp fm other day a ff minister was saying to fran curryfavor(ff/fg/L/)they were 100% in on next goverment. joke of a country
They won’t be in the next government. People are waiting on the next election. This is different and they want everyone to feel like you do. They win if this happens. I can’t make you feel better or the rest for that matter but all I say is get off your asses and vote anyone but them and no second preferences.
Yeah,agree,they always use that line around election time to give the impression to the undecided to vote for em.But this time it’s different – people had enough of em even BEFORE they unleashed the dregs of the earth on us.
Definitely, when even the stupid turn their heads in disbelief, thats how you know. You can feel it in the air around the country.
If there was ever a clear case of discrimination regarding housing in Ireland – It is the two tier system where by landlords get a better tax break if they rent to non nationals. The whole setup is disgusting. It is without doubt, a case of irish cultural and population replacement.
The only tax break I know if is the €800 pm payment a landlord gets tax free if he rents to Ukrainians Your post just refers to ‘non nationals.’ I was not aware of tax concessions for renting to all non nationals.
U squirting direaah from ur mouth. It’s only if u rent to Ukrainians no other non national fall into this category. Sad to see Gript attracting uneducated extremely right fascist who cannot differentiate between productive immigration that have benefitted the country en masse and non productive immigration that have destroyed everything that was good in this country.
any irish person been to india and applied for council housing or unemployment benifit,? i heard its non allowed for non indians,? plus it is a booming economy nearly no.3 in the world!!! buying lots of oil and weapons from russia thats keeps war in ukraine going on and then all them coming here, fecking joke and our goverment treating us like fools over all this , Get Out Protesting Before Its To late ,Save Our Little Beautiful Country …..
An Irish institute ruling in favour of an Irish national? Surely some mistake? .
I never knew non EU residents legally here were eligible for local authority home loans. They shouldn’t be.
Surely as this couple are both working they can apply for a home loan from the usual commercial sources. But you can’t blame them for trying. This useless government makes the rules and doesn’t listen to the people who elected them.
I would have thought the couple would have a good level of education that would allow them to take up a decent job.
Plenty of decent immigrants in our Communities now caught in the crossfire.
Their children friends of our children.
Direct your anger towards the government, NGO’s and other stakeholders that are hiding in the shadows
A couple years ago, I had researched moving to Ireland since my husband‘s company has offices there. I thought it would be a great experience to live there for a year or two as it would be a very enriching experience for both us and our children. I found that there were several requirements which I certainly did not object to because I did not feel that it should ever be the taxpayers’ responsibility to ensure we had a place to live. We would be required to provide proof of employment and financials showing we could afford living in Ireland. The other requirements concerned retirees and students, but were similar as they also had to present the same documentation we would have been obliged to show.
It is astonishing that now, those rules have essentially been pitched out the window and foreigners are arriving in Ireland with a sense of entitlement. It’s also infuriating that the government officials making these policies will never be personally affected by them. It’s always the general public that suffers while subsidizing.
Here is the joke.
They are here legally. Paying taxes. Following the guidelines “apparently” laid down by Housing.
Seems to me that they should leave the jurisdiction, re-enter the state via a container in Rosslare, and then wait the three months (presumably they can just abscond and live and work where they are now) …and wait for mcntee & her roddie to give them a house as asylum seekers from Wales. And if that doesn’t work find an NGO to take the government to court for not supplying it. Job done.
https://youtu.be/fxfCRwcIlmc?si=QmBez0hrlrLq2PVi The kundalini is not the Holy Spirit and is discernible. I’m pretty sure that’s the unforgivable sin of scripture; denying the Holy Spirit. Apply the Constitution rather than DEI Great Reset programming.
Sounds like didn’t have 5 years on the relevant date. Arrived 2019, Stamp valid through early 2024 at time of application, assuming his passport was not due to expire in early 2024 and he was granted the full 12 months permission (they cannot extend a Stamp past the passport’s expiration date.)
If his legal residency commenced 25th of April 2019, he’d need permission extending through 25th April 2024.
Hypothetical: If I have a 1 year lease, renewable every year, and the loan specifies a 5 year lease I’ll be turned down. Same thing. Now his permission extends out another 3 years he should be grand.
These people it seems are applying for a loan rather than accommodation provided by the state at no cost to them. They are working and have provided all the documentation requested of them. It seems the government will approve something only for free and when it is on the taxpayers dime.