Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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165. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider extending the help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers to 2022. [47334/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Help-to-Buy (HTB) is a scheme to assist first-time purchasers with the deposit they need to buy or build a new house or apartment.  The incentive gives a refund of Income Tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax paid in the State over the previous four years, subject to limits outlined in the legislation. Section 477C of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 outlines the definitions and conditions that apply to the scheme.Another main aim of the policy underpinning the design of scheme is to help encourage the building of additional new properties.

Following a commitment in the Housing for All strategy, my Department carried out a review of the scheme as part of its Tax Strategy Group deliberations. The resultant paper entitled "Income Tax (Incorporating a Review of the Help-to-Buy Scheme)" was published and is available on the Government website.

The paper lays out several possible options as regards the future of the measure, including:

- allowing the scheme to expire, 

- extending the current 'enhanced' scheme for a further period,

- extending the 'original' pre-July 2020 scheme for a further period, and

- extending the scheme but tapering out the level of support over a number of years.

In the coming days, I will be taking stock of where matters stand and decisions will be taken in relation to Help-to-Buy having regard to a number of elements including the overall policy context in which the scheme operates and my Department's deliberations as set out in the recent Tax Strategy Group paper.