Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The grant will do nothing for people who live in Dublin, and specifically in my constituency where there are no homes being built. I do not know where homes worth €400,000 are being built but they are not being built in Dublin. The new initiative directly discriminates against first-time buyers in Dublin. The grant should have been applied to second-hand homes.

The grant will not increase the supply of new homes. Instead, the Government needs to reduce development levies, introduce a site tax, analyse the costs associated with building houses, such as the certification process, or reduce the amount of building regulations. The Government needs to come up with a pragmatic way to increase supply. The grant goes nowhere near that and is disappointing. I cannot believe the grant has been increased to €20,000 when the sum originally mooted was €10,000.