€200m mortgage scheme set to be a disaster

State-sponsored sub-prime lending. That is what the Government announced this week and it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Eoghan Murphy, the housing minister, who is normally is an astute politician, has, I fear, erred in his attempts to remedy the housing crisis.

He announced details of his new mortgage scheme which will offer low-interest mortgages to first-time buyers who have been rejected by the banks.