Dáil debates

Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

5:10 am

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

If one looks at first-time buyers, for example, the percentage of first-time buyers has been steadily increasing, from about 25% of all purchases in 2015 to just under 40% in April 2025. Real progress has been made, through the help to buy scheme and first home scheme, in enabling first-time buyers to get into the market and get their first homes. About 119,000 first-time buyer mortgages were drawn down in the five years to the end of quarter 1 of 2025. In the first quarter of this year, there was an 8% year-on-year increase in first-time buyer drawdowns, at 5,308 for the period. That represents progress. In the past six months, an additional €700 million has been allocated, €325 million of which is for the tenant in situ scheme. That scheme needs to be targeted and focused on those in imminent danger of homelessness. It cannot become a mechanism to be deployed more generally for acquisitions, with a view to moving the emphasis in local authorities away from new builds to just acquisitions. We will allocate further funding for social housing to increase the record level of social housing we are already providing.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.