Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will ask the Minister for Finance to give the Deputy a more detailed reply on this, but my understanding from the Minister is that Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, was established to do exactly that. It provides finance, which of course has to repaid, to large, medium and small builders to help them fund the construction of new homes for people to buy. My understanding is that there may have been only one case, or a handful of cases, where HBFI invested in a build-to-let investment such as the Deputy described. It was not the norm, did not take place in the majority of cases and was not even commonplace. I am told that the vast majority of money has gone towards build-to-sell developments but, again, I will ask the Minister to clarify that.

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