Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am somebody who believes in home ownership. I believe no form of housing security is better than home ownership. Not only does home ownership give people the security of owning their own home, it means they do not have to pay rent when they retire. It also gives them financial freedom such as the option of borrowing against the value of the home to return to education. It gives them so many options that they just do not have if they do not own their own home.

Yes, I acknowledge that home ownership has fallen in the period of the census between 2016 and 2022 but at 66%, it is still the case that two thirds of people in Ireland own their own home. I want that figure to go back up again. I would like to see it going back up towards 70%. I know that there is a generational divide and that many people in their 20s and 30s and even their 40s are unable to purchase their own home at the moment. What we have seen in the past couple of months, and it should be borne in mind that the census was done last summer, is a very major uptake in the number of people buying their first home.

We see in or around 400 or 500 people every week buying their first home. It should be borne in mind that there is probably an underestimate because couples are counted as one when it comes to these figures. They are from the CSO and from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland. In the past six months, there has been a significant uptick in the number of people buying their first home. It is the highest we have seen since the Celtic tiger period. This gives me hope and it indicates that the policies that have been introduced by this Government are starting to work. It is about increased supply. It is also about the help-to-buy scheme, which helps people to get their deposit. It is also about the first home scheme, which helps people to bridge the gap between the mortgage they can get and the house they want to buy. It is also about vacancies and the vacant property grants we are giving people to breathe life into old buildings and turn them back into new homes.

The Social Democrats have tabled a motion and they claim to be the party of home ownership. They are against all of these things. They regularly object to new housing. They are against the help-to-buy and first home scheme. How can it say it is the party of home ownership?

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