Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to run the risk of repeating everything Deputies have mentioned previously.

My concerns about the scheme are well documented. I referred to them in my response to the Minister's budget speech. The Labour Party has been long on the record as opposing this kind of initiative. It is an ineffective and ineffectual use of scant taxpayers' resources. As other Deputies pointed out, it is not just me or others in this House who have said this; all the evidence provided by the ESRI, the commentary from the Parliamentary Budget Office and, indeed, as I understand it, advice provided by officials in the Department of Finance to the Minister would indicate that this is what is known as a dead weight policy. In other words, it uses taxpayers' resources, money that belongs to the State, to support and promote activity that would happen in any event. That is not the kind of approach we need to take to address our very difficult housing challenges.

I understand the logic and the principle of providing the State's resources to support, in some cases, those who require support to obtain their first home, but this is not the way to do so. It may, at some point in the future, have to form part of an overall package to support those in need of housing. However, this is not a policy for housing but a policy for developers, who will benefit extraordinarily from the largesse of the State if we are to pursue these kinds of policies for the reasons pointed out by other Deputies and eminent economists such as Dr. Roantree in the ESRI and those who work with the Parliamentary Budget Office. I will therefore oppose the section.