Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I have not tabled a recommendation on the following point but I would like to hear the Minister's views on it. In the context of the various credits available to people in this section and in the wider way through SSIAs etc. a common issue is that of housing. I would like the Minister's view on my next point – I want only a personal view I do not expect him to give a detailed one at this stage. There is a strong case for establishing a scheme whereby young people saving for houses could do so within a determined and locked saving system to be used only for a deposit on a house and could then claim tax credit on it. I know there will be certain difficulties in implementing such a scheme.

SSIAs were intended for elderly people but it appears people of all ages have bought into them. We have had the argument on the first-time buyer's grant. I opposed the Government's decision to abolish that grant, though I said on that day, and since, that it is probably the worst possible way of giving money to first-time buyers because unscrupulous builders have invariably discounted it into the value of the house. Here would be a way, for first-time buyers on a one time only basis, to save in a designated account for a deposit on a house.

Will the Minister consider such an idea? I am not suggesting it could be done in this Finance Bill. I would like to develop this idea further with him if he is open to it. Many Senators on this side of the House and on the Minister's side would welcome such a development which would be of more benefit to first-time buyers than the first-time buyer's grant. It would benefit them more in many ways because they would save more, having received tax credit on their savings, than they would have gained had they received the first-time buyer's grant. Builders would not know about that money and could not, therefore, discount it into the price of the house. Houses could no longer be advertised as attracting extra money by way of the first-time buyer's grant.