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

I thank the Deputy for his supplementary question. He has put affordability at the centre of his budget request and I have put it at the centre of my work since I came into office. We all know in this House how important it is not only to deliver social housing homes and more homes but to make sure they are homes people can afford to buy. One thing we are doing to ensure that is putting in place an affordable purchase scheme and a cost rental scheme, which I have already commenced. That is not to say that homes that are built and sold that are not part of those schemes will not be affordable, they will be, and we have seen that in the prices up and down the country. However, the Deputy and I both recognise there are people on good incomes who cannot afford to buy homes at present and who want to, are ready to and are starting families and we have got to help them, and that is what we are trying to do. The Deputy will know that in the context of the budget negotiations that we have been trying to do that, so I will not go into those negotiations. The serviced sites fund is not the only mechanism for delivery, as the Deputy will be aware.

Because the affordability issue is very important to me, I moved the €50 million that was earmarked for a second LIHAF into the serviced sites fund earlier this year, as the Deputy will be aware, in order that we could have greater firepower behind that particular fund. In terms of a LIHAF 2, that has been subsumed into the new urban regeneration and development fund, the €2 billion war chest that we put behind Project Ireland 2040 to meet its goals beyond Rebuilding Ireland. That fund will close, I believe, tomorrow and we will be making announcements around that in October.

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