James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will stop Mr. Doyle there because we have limited time. On the delivery of housing, I want to make one point. I hear this time and time again from young people, particularly those working in places like Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, where these problems are most acute because there is such high demand on rental accommodation in these high-density urban areas. If someone is looking in Dublin, particularly between the canals, there is no house being constructed at present that is eligible for the first home scheme. From the point of view of the first-time buyer in that situation, living and working in those areas, they are paying out significant rents. Looking at a 20- or 25-year mortgage, if you were to boil them down to two-bedroom apartments with an en suite and a parking place, many of those rents would probably work out somewhere in and around 60% more expensive than a mortgage repayment. If somebody has a child in those circumstances, such as in a two-parent household with one or two children, and they are stuck in rental, it is critical that something is done to help those parents. Would the Department consider, in conjunction with the Department of Finance, looking at potentially doubling the first-time buyer's grant for households that are renting and that want to purchase and may have children, given the huge costs involved with childcare needs, with trying to meet rent payments, and the cost of living in general in these urban areas in order to try to free people from a situation where they are continuing to pay rent? That comes back to bite those families later in life. Whatever the equivalent in 40 or 50 years' time is of today's fair deal scheme, there are incredibly acute long-term problems that occur as a consequence of somebody not acquiring a roof over their own head. It is back to the debate about Irish people liking to own the home over the heads. Effectively, what I see occurring here is a very serious long-term problem that will have very serious long-term consequences. I make that point to Mr. Doyle. What is going to be done in areas such as in Dublin city centre where the delivery of units, quite frankly, is farcical at the moment when it comes to residential accommodation that is affordable? There does not seem to be any movement on it. I do not want to hear about the costs of construction and other inflationary problems with which the Department is dealing; I want to know what it is going to do about it. I would appreciate a reply on that please.