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

This crisis is not eight years in the making. House prices were still falling in 2012. The affordability scheme was stood down because there was no affordability issue in the country at that time. We exited the bailout in 2014. In 2016, the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government put in place Rebuilding Ireland, a dedicated Ministry and, for the first time, ring-fenced funding to restore the housing sector but in such a way that we would not repeat the mistakes of the past. As part of this process, local authorities were tasked with building social housing rather than outsourcing same to the private sector and we also removed some of the obstacles to private sector building. We are now addressing the issue of affordability. I refer the Deputy to the example I gave to Deputy Ó Broin. If a €40,000 subvention is provided by the Department to a local authority for site works and the local authority then estimates the land value at €30,000 or €40,000, this means €80,000 would come off the price of a house. If the market price for that house is €320,000 or €350,000, there would be a significant drop in the price of that house and it would be affordable.

On eligibility, similar to the undertakings in the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, an individual earning a gross income of €50,000 or a couple earning a gross income of €75,000 will be eligible for the scheme. Each local authority will have to run a lottery scheme in its area as each scheme comes online.

On the regulations, next week I will put out a call to local authorities for the sites on which they want to utilise this fund. They have already identified the sites and there will now be a formal process of them identifying to me the ten key areas where affordability pressure is greatest. A great deal of work has been done on the regulations as well. The Act prescribes what can and cannot be done. I will be writing to the joint committee this week seeking its input on some of the parameters. We can do this in the next four weeks. The local authorities know this money is available and they are doing the necessary work around their sites.

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