Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I commend him, his predecessor, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on this scheme. I have seen it working in my local authority area. However, I wish to ask a number of questions to establish the facts.

I thank the Minister of State for the figures he provided. As with any scheme, there will initially be a certain period before the scheme kicks in properly. I hope 2023 will see a marked improvement in the number of applicants. Will the Minister of State clarify something? I believe he said there were 760 applications. How many of those were successful? This is a positive scheme and I encourage more people to take it up, but will the Minister of State clarify whether he is likely to amend it further, for example, the income thresholds or other criteria? Is such a review ongoing in the Department?

See this speech in context