Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a brief supplementary question. To refer again to the urban-rural situation, there are a couple of reports in the Irish Independent today that a house restoration grant is to be made available for young couples in rural towns and villages. In the areas the Minister and I represent, the cheapest option for many young couples in terms of getting their first house will be a second-hand house. It is grossly unfair, and a poor policy, that if funding is given - which I do not have a problem with if the money is available - for properties in villages and towns in rural Ireland, it is wrong not to make something equivalent available when many young couples literally have a gap they cannot cross in terms of being in a position to both buy houses and then, particularly if they are buying second-hand properties, whether in urban or rural Ireland, to give these people some support in upgrading them.

The report was attributed to a scheme the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is to launch shortly. It is very short-sighted to say this would be confined to younger people buying homes in rural towns and villages and not made available to their urban counterparts who work just as hard and are striving just as hard to get homes in urban areas, cities and bigger towns around Ireland.