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

There is no €2 billion in capital underspend on housing. As the Deputy knows, it is always the case that the final quarter of the year is the period in which there is the largest delivery. That is when schemes get closed out, accounts get done and drawdown of payments happens. There will be no such underspend in respect of housing capital this year. Any underspend, as the Deputy knows, is subject to a carry-forward provision whereby it can be carried forward, subject to an overall rule in respect of 10% of the ceiling for that Vote into the following year.

The truth, which the Deputy does not want to hear, is that Sinn Féin has opposed all the schemes that are making a difference for people who want to buy a home in Ireland, whether it be the help-to-buy scheme, the work of the Land Development Agency or the work of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, in bringing forward the First Home shared equity scheme, in respect of which over 600 eligibility certificates have been provided at this point, because Sinn Féin seems to have a calculation in mind that it is in its political self-interest to sustain the housing crisis.

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