Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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143. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the European Commission's report on the economy, which criticised the help-to-buy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11876/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the 2017 European Semester Country Report on Ireland, which was published on 22 February. In that document the European Commission acknowledged the work undertaken by the Government in addressing the current shortage of housing, including 'Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness'. This comprehensive Action Plan takes a holistic approach in addressing the many interacting structural constraints affecting the housing market in areas such as planning and land use, as well as regulation and skills deficits in the construction sector. While the primary focus of the Action Plan is to tackle structural constraints, fiscal supports can play a supporting and time-bound role in addressing the current problems in the housing sector. In my view the wording used by the Commission in relation to the help to buy scheme is not definitive, and merely points to the possibility that it could act to increase prices. However, the impact of the Help to Buy incentive on the property market generally cannot be considered in isolation from the impact of other measures contained in the Action Plan, which are primarily designed to increase supply.

It should be noted that the Help to Buy incentive is not a broad based relief available for the purchase of any home by any buyer. Rather, it is a targeted response that is aimed solely at first-time buyers, buying (or building) new residences. This targeting is designed to help encourage the building of new homes, thereby increasing supply, by turning notional demand into real demand. By restricting this initiative solely to new dwellings and new self builds, it is anticipated that the resulting increase in demand for affordable new build homes should encourage the construction industry to provide for an additional supply of such properties.

I wish to assure the Deputy that my Department continues to monitor developments in the property market on an ongoing basis. I have also committed to commissioning an independent economic impact assessment of the Help to Buy incentive which will look at a variety of issues relating to the scheme's impact on the property market.