Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to disagree with Senator Higgins.The fundamental point we were talking about and which this section speaks to is the first-time buyers grant which, if memory serves me correctly, is up to €30,000. In rural Ireland if that was not there, houses would not be built at present. That is a fact. I have gone through pricing models and can stand over that and can have that argument with anybody and I would be right on it. If that grant was not available, houses would not be built in rural Ireland. It might be slightly different in Dublin but that is the unfortunate reality.