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

Yesterday, we saw the figure for house price growth of 8.1% last year. The Minister of State will understand there is a lot of concern among first-time buyers, both individuals and families, that the prospect of owning their own home is getting further and further away from them. That is something the Government needs to be acutely aware of. While I welcome the provisions in the programme for Government and the commitments to the help to buy and first home schemes and the continuation of the croí conaithe, etc., we need to keep these under review and try to do everything we can as a government to make home ownership a reality for as many people as we can. I ask the Minister of State and the Department to redouble their efforts on this with the provision of starter homes, which will allow home ownership to become a reality for the majority.

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