Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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29. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider introducing a starter home scheme to address the imbalance in affordable housing provision for lower and middle-income earners to enable them to purchase their own homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53182/25]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his proposals to roll out more affordable housing schemes in 2025 and 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53741/25]

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on plans to dramatically increase the supply of housing under the affordable housing scheme. [53566/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 72 and 101 together.

Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. As detailed under Housing for All, the Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver affordable housing at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. The Government’s ambition is to build on progress to date under Housing for All.

Under the Programme for Government published in January 2025, the Government has committed to introduce a new national housing plan to follow "Housing for All", including a new Starter Home programme across the public, private and AHB sector which promotes home ownership and secures long-term rental tenures for young people and fresh start applicants. My Department is currently examining that commitment, its implementation and potential time frame within the context of a new national housing plan.

While work is being undertaken to progress a new plan,the measures detailed in Housing for All will continue to be progressed to accelerate and increase delivery of secure and affordable housing.

Since the launch of Housing for All to end Q1 2025, over 14,500 affordable housing solutions have been delivered by a range of delivery partners. A very strong pipeline of further delivery is already in place across our delivery partners, including Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency and the First Home Scheme.

Building on this progress, my Department will continue to engage with all delivery partners to further the development of the affordable housing delivery pipeline for 2026 and beyond, and to ensure that the affordable housing programme responds effectively to the affordable housing needs identified at a local level.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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30. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his Department’s plans to lower housing costs in Fingal; the way in which his Department plans to ensure that the first home scheme keeps up with the housing price increases that Fingal has seen year on year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53742/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Continuing to increase supply is key to meeting need and addressing many of the challenges currently facing the housing market. Increasing supply will help moderate house price growth and ease affordability challenges.

Supply has increased significantly in recent years, with 92,400 new homes delivered between 2022 and 2024 inclusive, exceeding the combined target for the period by 5,400 or so.

Government continues to bring forward measures to help build upon the uplift in supply and help dampen house price growth and ease affordability challenges across the country. The recently revised National Planning Framework is a major step forward in this regard, while the new Housing Activation Office will work to address barriers to the delivery of infrastructure projects needed to enable housing development.

Measures such as the Local Authority Home Loan, the Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Scheme, the Help to Buy Incentive, First Home Scheme and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant are also available to help make home ownership more affordable.

The First Home Scheme is a shared equity scheme, designed to help bridge the gap for eligible first-time buyers, eligible home buyers, and self-builders, between their deposit and mortgage, and the price of their new home (within price ceilings established across the country).

The First Home Scheme Designated Activity Company (DAC) is fully responsible for the operation of the First Home Scheme on behalf of all shareholders, including price-ceiling reviews. At its launch, First Home Scheme announced it would review all price ceilings at 6-month intervals. The DAC take into account a range of factors as part of these reviews, including the median price and volume of new builds purchased by first time buyers in each local authority area.

At the end of June 2025, the First Home DAC published the outcome of its sixth scheduled review of the price-ceilings that apply to qualifying homes. New price-ceilings were agreed for 16 local authority areas, including Fingal which increased from €475,000 to €500,000, and came into effect on 1 July 2025.

More information on price-ceiling reviews is available on the First Home Scheme website.