John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

The mechanism chosen by the Minister to address the problem, increasing mortgage interest relief, is a good one. I hope my comments have not caused my party colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to leave the House, although I am pleased my constituency colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, has arrived to protect me.

The cost of the Minister's initiative on mortgage interest relief will be of the order of €60 million. No one has referred to an important aspect of this measure, that is, its retrospection which means it will apply to first-time buyers who bought a house in the past seven years. The other option would exclude this group and for this reason it is a good measure.