Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has put forward a very reasonable argument. I agree with some of it and disagree with some of it. That is fine. I believe it is reasonable, I just disagree with the price aspect of it. The Minister's position is clearly a well-considered position and an intervention targeted at a group that is trapped. They are trapped by the 3.5% household income ratio that might allow them to buy a house, but nobody who is paying €1,400 or €1,500 in rent every month is able to save €20,000 to €40,000. This is a targeted intervention to help those people. I will repeat the last question I asked the Minister. Would he consider an amendment on Report Stage applying exactly the same logic to the negative equity generation? Everything I heard him say applies to that generation as well. This is a group who have already paid a huge amount of property tax. They have all paid the high stamp duties, the property tax and the second home tax, if they were renting and renting and so forth. They are trapped in the same way the Minister described first-time buyers as being trapped. Essentially, they are trapped by a new Central Bank rule. It is a work-around or a policy intervention to deal with what is hopefully an unintended consequence of the deposit rule of the Central Bank.

I will give three examples I have dealt with this weekend. One family has left the country. They have moved to the Middle East to try to earn some money tax free and save, not even for a deposit, but to try to pay down some of the negative equity, and maybe in time, to own a house. The second couple have two young boys. They are renting and renting. They bought a one-bedroom apartment and have now moved out of it. They are in a two-bedroom semi-detached house with two children. They are trapped because they are paying €1,500 per month or whatever is the inflated rent. They are also paying the second-highest child care costs in the world. They both work very hard and they are trapped for exactly the reason the Minister said the first-time buyers are trapped. They are never going to be able to save up €30,000 or €40,000 in order to buy a home. They are trapped. These are all couples I have met in the past few days. The third couple bought a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Dublin. They also have two children. They cannot move out because they have calculated that they would be taxed on the rental income on the apartment in Dublin were they to move out to Wicklow and rent a two-bedroom house. Their tax bill would go up by about €5,000. They had a choice. They could either do it and hope that they never get caught by Revenue or not do it and be tax compliant. That is what they have decided to do.

I ask the Minister to consider for Report Stage that if an individual or a couple can prove that they are in negative equity or at zero equity, which is relatively easy to prove, they may also avail of the scheme. The Minister was talking about people who are trying to buy a home, cannot save the deposit but do qualify on the income multiple.

If the Minister wants to apply this as a targeted intervention, I ask him to do it for those people who are equally trapped, or in most cases more trapped, than the first-time buyers he is trying to help.