Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I stated, I never thought I would see Sinn Féin advocating policies to prevent young people from acquiring their first home. I gave the figure of €22 million to Deputy Michael McGrath today. It defies belief to argue that an injection of €22 million into house purchasing is the factor that is driving up prices when house purchasing is now back as a multi-million euro industry again and there is a very strong flow of mortgages facilitated by the prudential rule changes made by the Central Bank. It is very difficult to accept the argument that this has led to a general rise in house prices when it does not apply to second-hand homes. It is very difficult to believe it gives an injection to house prices when it only applies to first-time buyers. It certainly put a bit of jizz into the market for starter homes, but before it was introduced, there were no starter homes being built and if they were, they were not being purchased. It has been effective, but we will see what Indecon states. Whoever is here at the end of August or early September will make the report available and the Deputy should suspend the propaganda until he sees the evidence. What he is saying does not stand up to economic scrutiny.

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