Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said accepting the amendments would not have the desired supply effect but we are enabling completed housing stock, which may have been sitting there for months if not for the past few years, to be purchased under the scheme now whereas a young couple who have just turned the sod on a self-build and have just drawn down the first tranche of the mortgage to pay the builder cannot avail of the scheme because the house might not be completed for a further six months. That is unfair. In respect of a housing estate house if people have signed a contract prior to 19 July but the house has not been started and it could be another 12 months before it is delivered, they will not be eligible to benefit from that scheme. I understand that with any new scheme there will be a cut off point and there will be winners and losers on either side of that but the fact that the Minister is accommodating houses completed before 19 July but not those who are building their own house or have bought a house that has not yet been built, is unfair.