Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan again for raising this issue and shining light on it. Thankfully, it has been a very successful scheme. I have been fortunate to be able to assist a number of constituents in making applications, which have been successful. It is an indication of the ambition of our people to build or acquire their own home. This is a very important tool in the arsenal of opportunities we offer in securing permanent housing for the future. The message I would like to see go out loud and clear from this discussion is that it is not a case of whether local authorities will receive funding. It is a case of when they will receive funding and what the scale of it will be. I would tell anybody contemplating making an application that the scheme remains open, all local authorities have been instructed to continue to receive and process applications and people should not have any doubt as to the Government's commitment to sustaining the scheme in the future.