Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important subject. I commend the Government on its announcement this morning in respect of the Croí Cónaithe scheme, something we in the Regional Group have advocated for, and on the fact that development levies are being waived. That creates a bit of buoyancy so that people will get the confidence to build or purchase a house. I want to see them working fairly fast. I hope that, at the end of the day, the local authorities will be paid the development levies monthly, as is stated, so there is no gap in funding to them.

When some young person or couple takes on the brave step of purchasing or building a house, we need to commend them. They are not looking for handouts or anything other than a chance. The issue we have at the moment is that where a tracker mortgage is in place, additional costs are accruing to those people. How we support them to get through this difficult time is the subject matter we are discussing this evening. I would say to the Minister for Finance that he probably cannot do anything right now, but in the budget he should be looking at bringing in mortgage interest relief and making it effective for 2023 so that people can get some benefit from it. I ask him to consider that. The Government has come a stretch today in positive things for construction as far as I can see. However, there are a few other things that need to be done. The help-to-buy scheme should be extended to first-time buyers of second-hand or vacant properties so they have that same benefit. The local authority mortgage loans that exist at the moment should include not just the purchase price of a second-hand house but also the refurbishment cost of that house so that it becomes a mortgage rather than a mortgage to buy with the need for another loan to refurbish the property. Things like that can be done and will help first-time buyers. At the end of the day, if we can help these people to buy their own houses and make homes for themselves and their families, we are doing a massive service to the State and in respect of the housing crisis.

One other thing that needs to be looked at very carefully is the whole area of the rural housing guidelines. The Taoiseach was talking about them this morning. Coming from a rural constituency, it is important that the rural guidelines are published so that people who want to live and can prove they have an association with an area can live there. I have a perfect example of two sons wanting to build in my village. Their grandfather and great-grandfather and mother are living and were born within the village. The sons are just outside the speed limit, in a small village, and they are not qualifying as having a housing need in that village. There is no other land available. We are surrounded by a turlough and a hill, great, beautiful scenery, and this is the kind of codology that is going on. We need to cut that out. I also believe building houses on family farms for second and third members of the family is a good thing. It creates family supports as parents get older. In my case, when our children were small, we had the support of our mother and father to help us when we were out working or whatever. As they got older, we and our children were there to help them and keep them at home for as long as possible. There is a massive social benefit to all of that. We are coming to a stage where we need to show respect for the courage young people have. I ask the Minister and Minister of State to look at the mortgage interest relief.

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