Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with Deputy Naughten's point first. He said that he wanted this incentive to be made available for vacant second-hand homes. If there is an issue with local authorities being unable or unwilling to purchase derelict properties and to then sell them on, the inclusion of such properties in the help to buy scheme will not have a big impact. The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, received additional money in the budget for expenditure measures including the town and village renewal schemes. Allowing local authorities to purchase homes and to then sell them on at a discounted price to people who can afford them is a far more impactful way of dealing with the issue that Deputies Naughten and Canney raised, rather than including vacant second-hand properties in the help to buy scheme. That is why additional money has been made available for the aforementioned schemes.

I repeat what I said in my first answer to Deputy Doherty, namely, that a definition of affordability depends on the location of the home and the income of those who are looking to buy it. It is not my objective, however, to have policies in place that are driving up the price of homes. That is not the case. In each of the budgets I have presented, I put significant amounts of money into capital expenditure measures to try to increase the supply of homes. I want to see stability in house pricing. If we are to see price increases at all, I want them to be moderate. I do not want any increases getting further in the way of the affordability that he and I are debating. That is why I have, over the years, made more money available through capital expenditure to allow more homes to be built. It is also why I support the implementation of the macroprudential rules of the Central Bank. I want to be very explicit in saying to Deputy Doherty that it is not the objective of policies that I have in place to cause inflation within the housing market.

In terms of the Deputy's rebuttal of the point I made regarding the ESRI, which we will debate again later on, it is a hell of leap from the Deputy's quoting of the ESRI's support for a different method of increasing carbon prices and ensuring they are equitable and have less of an effect on vulnerable families to the Sinn Féin policy of not supporting an increase in carbon pricing at all. There is a big leap between those two positions but as the Deputy said himself, it is up to politicians and Ministers to take a view on policies that they think are appropriate and fair.

On the Deputy's point in respect of 60% of those availing of the help-to-buy scheme not needing the full payment, it is a fair point. However, I would make the point that it shows that for that 60% the help-to-buy scheme is helping them in the purchase of those homes. I believe that help is valuable and has an effect. I go back to the point that has been at the centre of this debate and which I have put to Deputy Doherty, namely, that if one looks at the average income of persons on this scheme, be they a couple or a single person seeking to purchase a house, they are deserving of support through a programme such as the help-to-buy scheme.

On the points made by Deputy Boyd Barrett, I believe that public housing should be built on public land, but I also believe there is a role for private housing on it and there is room for affordable housing on it. It is about time we got the balance and the mix right. There are issues relating to the affordability of the private sector in delivering homes, but that is why, for example, we have the Land Development Agency and things such as the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, that is trying to co-fund infrastructure in order to reduce the cost of developing homes. It is not yet having the impact I want it to have, but I am fully supportive of continuing to have the money in place behind that scheme so that it can have an effect in what could be a different housing market next year.