Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

The last point I will make on this concerns the second paragraph of the Minister of State's reply, which states: "I am advised that the board takes into account a range of factors as part of these reviews, including the median price and volume of new builds purchased by first-time buyers in each local authority area." The key message I hope the Minister of State brings back to the Minister and the board overseeing this scheme is that it is very hard to calculate the median price or the average price of new builds in Tipperary compared to other counties when we have so few of them. The market in Tipperary at the moment mostly involves second-hand homes so how the board can justify a cap of €350,000 as opposed to €375,000 on these homes is very difficult for me to understand. If someone heads across the county boundary to Riverstown in County Offaly or crosses into Laois or across the bridge into Portumna, all of a sudden, the cap is different. That the markets could be so different crossing those county boundaries does not add up for me. The problem for me is the way in which it is calculated. The figure of €350,000 is calculated on the price of a new build. We do not have enough new builds on the market in Tipperary to be able to calculate it but if we look at parity across county councils, we will see a much fairer system. I thank the Minister of State for being here at this hour to answer these questions and for the response he has given me and I hope he will carry these messages back to Government for me.

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