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

Let us be straight about this. There are two schemes being worked on by Clare County Council. It must submit those plans to me. In a broad sense, we have already approved approximately 1,800 affordable purchase homes, led by local authorities in 12 different counties and under 27 projects. New counties, such as Wicklow, Westmeath and Limerick, have recently come into that fold. The fund is open and those are the first authorities to avail of it. In his opening remarks, the Deputy referenced the first home scheme whereby people will get assistance to buy private homes. That is not a second mortgage, by the way, but is an equity stake. That is open across all Twenty-six Counties. I hope to get those schemes from Clare County Council, should it work them through. We are approving new schemes every week and have the funds to do it. I encourage Clare County Council to make those submissions to me. These will be local authority-led affordable schemes. There are two being worked on at the moment. Waterford County Council has five schemes in place. As for Cork County Council, I visited Mallow on Monday, where affordable homes are being built. They are going to be sold this year. The scheme is open to Clare.

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