Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I intend that will absolutely be the case. Under the Government plan, we will not exclude couples who earn more than €75,000, unlike what other parties have put forward, which would exclude nearly half of those who need housing. We need to look at the net cost for people. The Deputy is 100% correct in that there are so many people out there who are working hard, paying 50% to 60% of their net take-home pay on rent. They are trying to save every cent, and are never going to reach the target they need to reach, first in savings, but second in income. I do not want them to be chasing an unaffordable mortgage. That is not what this Government or the Deputy wants.

In the interim we will keep other measures in place. We will keep the help to buy grant in place which helps some first-time buyers and we will potentially expand it. The Rebuilding Ireland home loan has been a really good support for people as well and it will be expanded. There are moneys there for this year and I would ask people to look at it. It is a very good fixed-term mortgage contract for 20 to 25 years. To answer the Deputy’s question, we will be ensuring that those working on average, normal incomes will be able to access our Government’s affordable housing scheme.

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