Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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139. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of applications and the number of unsuccessful applications per each local authority area for the first-home scheme since its introduction; the last time that property price ceilings were reviewed for each local authority area, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5538/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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140. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the last time that the property price ceiling was reviewed for County Meath under the first-home scheme; if he will consider reviewing the price ceiling under the scheme to reflect current market value property prices in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5539/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together.

The First Home Scheme, launched on 7 July 2022, supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model. Further information is available at:www.firsthomescheme.ie.

The Scheme is overseen and managed by the First Home Scheme Ireland Designated Activity Company (First Home DAC), on behalf of scheme founders (the State and participating mortgage lenders). This body is responsible for collating and issuing statistical information as it pertains to the scheme. In a press release covering activity up to 31 December 2022, the Scheme confirmed that applications had been received from 23 counties, with 750 applications approved and 335 contracts issued. Of these approvals, 57 (8% of the total) were for Meath.

At its launch, it was announced by the Scheme that a review of regional price ceilings would be undertaken within 6 months. This review was conducted towards the end of 2022 on the basis of CSO data on the prices of new homes sold in recent months, as well as a study of the prices of new homes currently available on the market. The review also considered the recent increase in construction costs.

On foot of this review, the First Home Scheme put in place revised price ceilings from 1 January 2023. As part of this, the price ceiling for Meath was increased from €350,000 to €375,000. The revised price ceilings for all counties are available at: www.firsthomescheme.ie/about/property-price-ceilings/. At a press event confirming the new ceilings on 9 January 2023, it was announced by the Scheme that future reviews will be conducted on a six-monthly basis.