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

One of the report's recommendations is that a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the scheme should be undertaken after a period. Given the limited time since the measure was introduced, a report inevitably can only represent a preliminary assessment and, in short, the assessment is inconclusive and it is too early to say. The Government, to use the Taoiseach's words, is admonished for not doing an assessment in advance of introducing the scheme.

The scheme was announced in July 2016, the details were provided in the 2016 budget and it was enacted in last year's Finance Bill. Indecon only had a short window of actual data on which to base its analysis. What will the Minister do in a formal sense to ensure there is a proper assessment of the cost-benefit analysis of this scheme? The measure of success for this scheme is whether it will boost supply. Is it the Minister's view that the scheme is essential for viability to be achieved and, as Deputy Boyd Barrett said, for it to be profitable for builders to build houses in a commercial market, or is it already viable in the market, given the way prices have risen?