Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, of course, accept the point that Senator Warfield has made that over a number of years, the scheme has been of the cost he indicated. However, even with the changes that were made in 2020, the cost of the scheme is approximately €110 million per year. The capital programme for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage alone is approximately €4 billion. It is important to put that figure into context with all of the other things that the State does.

Some people who avail of the scheme are in the position that they do not need it to get up to a full deposit level. However, even on the figures the Senator has used, 60% of those who access the scheme need and benefit from the help the scheme offers. It has been a long-standing feature of the tax code that we offer a degree of support to those who are hoping to buy and own their homes outright. That this scheme is concentrated on new supply only mitigates any concerns around the deadweight effect. I would share some of the concerns of the Opposition if the scheme were focused on helping people to buy homes that were already built, but it is not. It helps people to buy homes that are part of new supply coming into our housing market at a time when that supply is needed. I do not have the information to hand or readily digestible in respect of the so-called deadweight figure for 2022 of people who had already built up a deposit.Nevertheless, I will get it for the Senator and share it with him either on Committee Stage or before Report Stage.