Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government is committed to helping people to achieve the aspiration of home ownership. We recognise that buying a first home is always a challenging prospect but has become increasingly difficult in Dublin and other areas. Building on other initiatives already under way to improve affordability, I announced a number of new affordable housing measures last week. Together with the new Rebuilding Ireland home loan, a national scheme for affordable purchase is being reintroduced, targeted at households with annual gross income below €50,000 for a single applicant or €75,000 for joint applicants.

The new scheme will be governed by the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which will be commenced shortly. I will then develop detailed regulations covering the operation of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, and I will be happy to consider any views that Deputies may have in that regard.  Once the regulations are in place, the elected members of each local authority will decide on the arrangements under which eligible households will access affordable properties becoming available.

The new affordable homes will be delivered by and through local authorities, primarily using sites from their landbanks to leverage the construction of homes for sale at affordable price points. This means that local authorities will now have more options for the development of their sites for mixed-tenure social and affordable housing. Local authority chief executives welcomed these affordable housing measures at the housing summit on 22 January.

The first such homes are being procured by Dublin City Council at O'Devaney Gardens and I have asked all local authority chief executives to submit, by mid-February, an outline of their respective affordable housing programmes from their lands, with a particular emphasis on Dublin, Cork and Galway where the affordability challenge is greatest.

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