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

I thank the Deputy for welcoming the initiatives. People were hit very badly by the economic crash that occurred following the bank bailout in 2008 and the intervention from the IMF and ECB in 2010. What we saw was a collapse in property prices across the country of somewhere in the region of 54% from a very high peak. As we look at escalating property prices now, year on year, prices are only at about 71% of where they were in 2007, yet they are still pricing people out of the market. It is important, as we recover our economy and as we rebuild our housing sector, which was destroyed in the collapse, that we do so in a sustainable way and that we make sure affordability is at the centre of everything we are trying to do. That is why we introduced the Rebuilding Ireland home loan and why we talk about certain caps around that loan, namely, €320,000 in the greater Dublin area, Cork and Galway, although not in Limerick, which may please the Deputy, and €250,000 everywhere else. Up to the end of October 2017, roughly 67% of homes bought by first-time buyers in the greater Dublin area, Cork and Galway were bought for less than €320,000 and roughly 91% of first-time buyers buying homes everywhere else paid less than €250,000. There is affordability, although we need to help where we can.

In regard to houses under the affordable purchase scheme, we have identified lands and money. At sites like O'Devaney Gardens, we will see the first homes constructed this year. I have asked local authorities to come back and see if there are particular sites where, if we use technologies like rapid-build, we could get some of these completed this year. That is what I am going to hear in the coming weeks.

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