Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I note what the Senators have said. This is a particularly excellent section of the legislation that encourages first-time buyers to save and accumulate a deposit, difficult as that is. The State is standing by them by helping them to buy their first home. What could be wrong with that? It is a good scheme from beginning to end. It helps first-time buyers and it helps to increase the supply of houses. They must be new builds. Some of the earlier criticism asked why the scheme does not cover second-hand houses. This is about providing jobs. How does one get a new house built? By getting brick-layers, plumbers, carpenters and other workers to slate roofs, install central heating, fit kitchens and connect water. This is an incentive to increase employment in those trades. A new house cannot be built without employing people.

I cannot understand how people come here to vote against first-time buyers who meet the requirement limiting borrowing to three times annual household salary. This is not for wealthy people. There are restrictions on how much people can borrow based on their incomes. Irish people like to own their own house. Maybe some people have a philosophical objection to that, but I do not. Most people I know would like to own their own houses. This helps them. It does not help everybody, but it helps first-time buyers to get a house. It can be self-built or they can buy it. There is no proof that the price of houses jumped by €10,000 overnight when this was announced last week. I know that Members of the Oireachtas posted that claim on social media, but they took it down very promptly. It is an easy thing to say but far more difficult to prove. Prices will not escalate because more new houses being built means more supply on the market. The debate we have had about housing of all categories, including social and affordable housing, approved housing body housing and private houses, returns to the problem of not building enough houses in the last decade. There is a shortage. This is a mechanism to assist first-time buyers and to encourage the building of new houses. That has to be a good thing. I cannot understand how people can take issue with the principle behind this.

This particular measure is not about social housing. It is a finance measure. The remarks Members have made about social housing are totally valid. Those issues should be discussed when social housing legislation comes before the House. This is a measure to help buyers, largely young people, to own their own houses by increasing the tax incentive from €20,000 to €30,000. That came into effect on 23 July, the date the announcement was made. That is extraordinary. We are not waiting for the legislation to pass or anything like that, though the President will hopefully sign the Bill soon. The effective date is the date of the first announcement. Of course, people who entered into contracts to purchase houses before that are not included because they entered into them under the old regime. I see nothing wrong with people who were in the process of making applications to Revenue but had not finalised their contracts starting afresh. They can be included in the new regime as well. I understand that there is opposition to this. I am of the view that it is a good measure to increase the housing supply, assist first-time buyers and boost employment in the construction industry. I could not commend it to the House more.