Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In my earlier contribution, I said my objective was to increase supply. The record of the Dáil will show whether or not I gave a commitment here this evening to reduce prices. I do not believe I did. What I said was that the aim of Government policy is to increase supply. I believe that increasing supply over time will lead to a reduction in the price pressure that is there and is having such an effect on tenants and people looking to buy their first home. The objective of the Government is first and foremost to increase supply, which over time will lead to an improvement in affordability.

I have long considered and have in the run up to each finance Bill looked at whether alternatives to the help-to-buy scheme are possible and if they would be any better. This scheme has a number of features that are really important. The first one is that it relates the availability of this incentive directly to the fact that the home must be newly built. It is a key feature of this scheme versus many other schemes that are available.

Second, it also offers support to self-builds. Offering support to self-builds is a factor in why the loan-to-value ratio is at its current level. I believe it is very appropriate that the tax code has a scheme that offers support to people in buying their first home. This year alone, 7,600 people were able to access help-to-buy scheme and because of this, they were able to buy their first home. These are people who do not qualify for social housing, the shared equity scheme and local authority schemes. I believe that even for those taxpayers, support for buying their first home, which is newly built, is the right thing to do. This is a key point of difference between me and Deputy Doherty. I do not know what he would say to all of these people were he to cancel this scheme. He might get the opportunity to make that point.

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