Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I am sure there will be more cases like the one she has just outlined. The criteria were set as towns and villages with a population of over 400 people. First of all, this is a great scheme and I think everybody agrees with that. I am getting a lot of calls from Fine Gael Deputies in particular. Even last night at a meeting it was raised with me. I have been asked can we not expand it further and can we not bring it out into rural areas and can we not make it available for towns and villages with fewer than 400 people.

I worked with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and fair play to him, he got this up and running. This is a new scheme. It is out this year. If we can just let it bed in then we can look at expanding it further. I expect there will be good interest in it. It is a good start. I said to somebody last night that we will have to crawl before we walk on this one. It is something I talked about a long time ago and fair play, it has become a reality now. It is the right thing to do. We all know these houses in towns and villages. They are serviced, that is, the water supply and sewerage is there, so we should be able to renovate them easily. They are great as a starter home for young people who want to get on the property ladder. We are doing other stuff in my Department as well. I take the Deputy's point. I will raise it with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, but to be fair to him we had better let this get bedded in first.

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