Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is raising the strong views of his constituents on this issue. One of the many points of questions like this is for the Deputy to raise issues his constituents want him to raise and for me to do my best to explain why we are doing or not doing what he wants. As I said, the concern I have is that in addition to the difficulties we have with building more homes, we need to ensure that as we build more homes, they are built in a way that is affordable. My considered analysis of this scheme is that any change that would make it available to homes that are already built could have a real risk of adding to house price inflation in our country, given how many second-hand homes are bought every year. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I will take on board what he said but I want to do him the courtesy of giving him my view on the issue at the moment.

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