Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Finance the assessment that was carried out by his Department on the impact on supply and demand conditions in the housing market of the help-to-buy scheme announced in budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32537/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The potential impact of the Help to Buy incentive on supply and demand conditions in the housing market was considered by my officials as part of their analysis of the proposed scheme and the design of the relevant parameters of the incentive. Among other issues, officials also considered the potential impact on land prices, demand, and potential mortgage lending.

The introduction of such a scheme was considered as only one component of the full list of measures provided for in 'Rebuilding Ireland - The Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness' which was launched last July. It is in this context that the Help-to-Buy scheme should be considered. Its role is to complement the other measures in the Action Plan. The extent to which the market responds will very much depend on the speed and efficiency with which structural supply constraints are eliminated and residential building activity increases. Therefore, the impact of the Help-to-Buy scheme cannot be considered in isolation from the impact of other measures contained in the Action Plan, which are primarily designed to increase supply.

It is expected that the Help to Buy scheme will increase the demand for newly built houses, by converting notional demand into real demand, through enabling first-time buyers' to meet the requirements of the Central Bank macro-prudential rules, more quickly. Accordingly, developers who may have been struggling to borrow funding to build houses will be in a better position to do so, and thus will be able to generate the desired supply side response.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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102. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a list of all persons, representative organisations or institutions he or his Department consulted or met to discuss the help-to-buy scheme announced in budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32538/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I assume the Deputy is asking for all persons or organisations that I or my officials consulted with, rather than all those who raised the Help to Buy scheme with me. As the Deputy will appreciate, I met with a range of bodies prior to the Budget, as part of the annual pre Budget submission and meeting process, and many of these bodies would have raised requests for a scheme to assist with home purchases, following from the reference to the introduction of such a scheme on Budget day, as announced in the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, launched on the 19th of July last.

The bodies that were consulted include the Central Bank, the Revenue Commissioners, and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. In addition, discussions were held at a political level. Furthermore, my officials held informal discussions with some of the banks to in order to ensure that the final design of the operational aspects of the scheme, would reflect and tie-in with the actual processes employed by financial institutions in the provision of mortgage lending to individuals.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons deemed eligible for the help-to-buy incentive announced in budget 2017 who will be reimbursed by the Revenue Commissioners (details supplied). [32577/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Under the Help to Buy initiative, subject to satisfying the full conditions of the scheme, a first time purchaser will be entitled to claim a refund of income tax and DIRT paid over the previous four years.  The terms of the scheme are set out in Finance Bill 2016.  The refund will be subject to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price of a new home, or in the case of a self-build 5% of the approved value of the dwelling, up to a value of €400,000.  Where new homes are valued between €400,000 and €600,000, the maximum relief will be €20,000 per property (i.e. €400,000 @ 5%).

The payment process for the tax rebate will vary depending on a number of factors, including whether an individual is purchasing a newly built residence or constructing his or her own self-build residence.  In the case of a contract to purchase a new residence entered into in the period from 19 July 2016 to 31 December 2016, the tax rebate will be paid directly to the first-time buyer after the Revenue online system comes on stream in January 2017.

In all other cases involving contracts for the purchase a new residence, the tax rebate will be paid directly to the contractor and will form part of the deposit required from the purchaser.  This will be treated by the contractor as a credit against the purchase price of the residence.

In the case of a self-build residence, the tax rebate will be issued to the first-time buyer after he or she draws down the first tranche of the mortgage loan used to finance the construction of the residence.

As the initiative is demand-led, it is not possible to forecast the numbers of first-time buyers that will choose to avail of it on an annual basis or the average benefit that these individuals will receive. However, initial forecasts of the potential costs by my Department for the coming years, as outlined in Budget 2017, are based on figures in relation to the number of new homes built in recent years and the proportion of which that were purchased by first-time buyers.