Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will all judge the Minister by what he does and not what he says, and he would say exactly the same thing if the tables were turned. My question, however, was on when the scheme will be published and whether the Minister could give us more detail than what he has said until now. My concern is that, on the basis of what he has been saying in the media recently, a large portion of what the Minister appears to be working on is not affordable housing. For example, with regard to the comments at the weekend on extending the help-to-buy scheme at its higher rate into next year, while that is of benefit to the people who access it, although according to the Government's own report, 40% of those people who got that very generous subsidy did not need it, the scheme does not make houses more affordable. It locks in unsustainably high prices. I am also very concerned about what seems to be a shift towards a Government backed shared equity loan. This is a secondary Government loan on top of very large and risky banking debt, again locking in unsustainably high prices and not delivering for modest income working families. All I hear with regard to the serviced sites fund is possibly some tinkering around the eligibility criteria rather than the type of increase in capital investment we need. Is the Minister in a position to give us more details? It would be very helpful.

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