Charlie McCreevy (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

Senator O'Toole put forward this interesting idea quite recently in the Irish Examiner. We looked at many ideas in this regard but I am open to having it looked at again and will do so before next year's budget and Finance Bill. The Senator is proposing that we encourage people to save in a particular fund which could only be used for deposit on a house.

I am loath to commit myself to another runaway success given the popularity of the SSIA scheme. People will be surprised when the final figures for year ending 31 December 2002 are published. People at all levels of income have subscribed to that scheme. That may horrify Senator McDowell and his party but the figures will illustrate it.