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

Home ownership rates have decreased for a variety of reasons. For example, people are staying longer in education, households are forming later in life, smaller households are forming and people are more mobile in where they work and how they live. We need to ensure that owning a home continues to be an aspiration for many people and that we can provide for it.

In the first quarter of the year we saw a 35% increase in house sales on the figure for last year. There is activity in the market. Housing has to be affordable in order that people can access the market. The average house sale price in Dublin in the past 12 months was €360,000. The median price, when irregular sales which can be very expensive or very cheap, are excluded was €330,000. That speaks to an affordability problem. A couple, both of whom are earning over €50,000, will be able to afford these prices, but it will be difficult for those on less money. When one takes the 10% deposit requirement, the help-to-buy scheme and the Rebuilding Ireland home loan together, not even all three factored in together would enable someone to reach those prices. In Galway the average house sale price is €169,000. Therefore, there is not as much of an affordability issue.

See this speech in context