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The Dáil will debate a Sinn Féin motion calling for the government’s planned shared capital plan to be scrapped.
The party’s housing spokesman, Eoin Ó Broin, said the plan will not make housing more affordable and burden people with too much debt.
“It will not help a generation that has been excluded from homeownership due to rising housing costs,” he said.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said he is determined to go ahead with the € 75 million plan, despite widespread opposition.
The goal of the plan is to bridge the affordability of buyers and the state by paying up to 30% of the purchase price for a newly built home. This would be repaid over time, after a few years without interest.
Two government TDs, Green Party members Neasa Hourigan and Patrick Costello, have said the money would be better spent on public and social housing.
Dublin City Council’s Fine Gael councilors have also called for the plan to be scrapped.
The Central Bank, the Institute for Economic and Social Research and the former secretary general of the Department of Reform and Public Expenditure warned that the scheme could drive prices up.
O’Brien has defended his plan, saying it will be calibrated specifically for the Irish property market and will target those who need it most, with regional price differences and fair cost agreements in place.
He said that ESRI in its engagement with the pre-legislative scrutiny committee had also stated that such schemes have considerable merit “once properly calibrated.”
Minister O’Brien said opposition from Sinn Féin and others came without seeing the proposed deal and that it would be aimed at those “caught in the affordability gap”, who pay high rents and yet cannot get a mortgage. .
The Institute of Professional Appraisers and Auctions also warned against the plan, saying it was a “great way” to circumvent the central bank’s credit restrictions.
Minister O’Brien said yesterday that the plan must be approved by the Central Bank and this will allay the fears of some in the real estate industry.
He said there is also a detailed engagement with the European Commission to calibrate the scheme for Ireland to ensure it boosts supply and affordability, with a severe shortage in housing provision.
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