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

The facts are borne out by looking at the first-time buyer activity. We have more than 500 first-time buyers per week now drawing down mortgages and buying their homes using the very supports we have brought forward, namely, the first home and help-to-buy schemes, which the Deputy opposes and would scrap. He has put nothing forward that would replace them, only some loose leasehold arrangement that is sorely lacking in any detail.

I will give the Deputy a couple of examples. On affordable housing delivery through our local authorities, 4,135 purchase and cost-rental homes were approved over 21 local authorities through the fund we set up. With regard to the first home scheme, over 4,000 approvals were issued with the majority of them in areas where there are affordability challenges, such as counties Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. We have actually had to approve a further €40 million, which will be matched by the retail banks, because the first home scheme is going from strength to strength.

I have met and meet people regularly who have bought their homes using those supports. These are people who were stuck in a rental trap or who were in the box room who now own on their own homes because the Government supports are working. We want to ramp them up further.

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