Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to record my support for the help-to-buy scheme and my total dismay at the idea of abolishing it. This is what is being put forward by the Opposition. The help-to-buy scheme does exactly what it says on the tin: it helps people to buy their first homes. It has been a welcome financial contribution for many families, some 32,000 people to be exact. Almost €600 million has been paid out under the scheme to help people to buy their first homes. In Dublin alone last year, the help-to-buy scheme helped 1,127 people. The figures prove it is helping people. The very notion of abolishing a scheme that has provided 32,000 people and young couples with financial assistance towards buying their own homes is just mad. Yet that is what Sinn Féin is suggesting, namely, getting rid of a support scheme for first-time buyers. It is a prime example of opposition for opposition's sake. If anything, we should be expanding the help-to-buy scheme and not abolishing it.

Regarding affordable housing targets, the Government aims to provide 28,000 affordable homes by the end of 2026. This will be done through multiple channels and not just through the affordable housing funds. This year, affordable and social housing delivery will be achieved through the allocation of €4 billion in capital and current investment. In the next three years, €20 billion of State investment will be poured into housing. In eight years' time, under the Housing for All policy, there will be 90,000 extra social homes, 36,000 new affordable purchase homes and 18,000 new cost-rental homes. This is the difference between the Government and the Opposition. The Government's targets are real and its plans costed. The strategy is multi-annual, multibillion, already in motion and already helping people. It is rooted in reality and backed up by financial packages. The proposals we hear again and again from the Opposition, however, are pie in the sky and based on fairy-tale economics.

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