Mr. John McCarthy:

There would be 85,000 households for which we would not have a solution. It is important to put it in context.

If we look at Rebuilding Ireland and the six-year profile of what we aim to achieve, as we started out in 2016 we recognised that, as we spoke about earlier, we were coming from a situation in which the local authority building programme and, indeed, the approved housing body building programme had virtually ground to a halt due to lack of funding. We recognised that in the early years of Rebuilding Ireland, as the build programme and other elements ramped up, we would be reliant on the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP, to a greater extend. As one looks through the six years one will see that the mix of elements changes. We aim to be assisting more households through measures other than HAP and RAS than through HAP and RAS combined when we get to the end of Rebuilding Ireland in 2021. That is an important evolution that takes account of the reality of an increasing funding envelope as the years go on and of where we came from in terms of actual activity. As I have said, the build programmes had literally ground to a halt.

The Deputy also raised the issue of the help to buy scheme. I am probably not the best person to speak about this scheme as it is a tax measure but I know from engagements on the issue that almost 10,000 households have been approved under the scheme.