Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I believe there will be great interest in the Croí Cónaithe towns fund, because it will essentially involve providing grants to renovate derelict vacant properties. We all know that there are too many of them in our towns and villages around Ireland. They are located in communities where services are already in place. Many of them are in the centre of towns and villages. It seems to me that it makes great sense to invest some public money to bring them back into stock. It will also help to breathe new life into towns and villages throughout Ireland.

We are very anxious now to get the first home shared equity scheme up and running as quickly as possible. I know there is a lot of interest in it and people are looking to it as a way of bridging the affordability gap that unfortunately is there at this point in time. We are investing €4 billion a year now in direct Exchequer capital. It is the single greatest intervention of any Government ever to bring about a greater supply of social homes, affordable purchase and cost rental as well. We will continue to work with the private sector which has a very significant role to play in meeting the needs of first-time buyers and others who want to purchase a home in this country.

See this speech in context