Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 126 of 10 November 2022, his plans for the phasing out of the help-to-buy-scheme; the timeline for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3091/23]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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241. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of the implementation of the recommendations of a report (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3133/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 121 and 241 together.

As indicated in my predecessor's Budget 2023 address to the House on 27 September 2022, the Help to Buy scheme has been a significant support for first time buyers of new homes. Since its inception in 2017, over 36,000 first-time buyers, either singly or as part of a couple, have benefited from the scheme.

To reiterate the response to Parliamentary Question No. 126 of 10 November 2022, it remains the case that, as with any tax expenditure, the scheme will be kept under review and that there are a number of recommendations within the recent Mazars report on the scheme which the Government will consider for future budgets.

In the meantime, however, the Government has decided to continue the scheme, at current rates, until the end of 2024 and this has been legislated for in the Finance Act 2022. The future of the measure beyond end-2024 will be considered in due course.