Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been a lot of discussion about people buying their first homes and whether they can get help from their parents. I am sure that many people have done that and that many people are not in a position to. Perhaps the Leader might arrange some kind of a debate with the Minister with regard to people who have not been able to save because they have been spending so much on rent. The rent on a three-bed semi-detached house in south County Dublin is approximately €2,000 to €2,500 a month at this stage. Those are figures from daft.ie, they are not anecdotal. People can have a look for themselves. If people have spent years renting, it means that they have a decent capacity in terms of their earnings and have the ability to produce a certain amount of money every month, but they are not in a position to save, they are not able to show that they have a history of savings and they cannot build up deposits.

Is there a way, perhaps through the Private Residential Tenancies Board or through landlord certification, for people to get certificates of rent paid in previous years so as to demonstrate that they are in a position to pay a mortgage? Quite often people's mortgage payments, if they were able to get mortgages, would be lower than their monthly rent payments. They have been paying, they are working hard and they are getting up in the morning, as the Taoiseach might say. They are earning for themselves and producing for their employers. They are working away and being productive but they are not in a position to start saving a great deal. I am not saying that we should have 100% mortgages, but there must be a way to address this particular cohort of people who are working hard, who are generating enough cash to pay a mortgage, but who are not in a position to get one because they do not have savings. Perhaps there could be some kind of up-front deposit which could be repaid over time, some kind of shared ownership or some other kind of system to allow people to get on the rung. It is a catch-22. They are renting and are spending so much on rent that they are not able to save. Not everyone is able to move in with their parents or move back home, depending on their circumstances.