Fianna Fáil wants incentives for first-time buyers

Fianna Fáil will seek incentives for first-time home buyers for it to support the Government's plans to tackle the housing crisis, said its leader Micheál Martin.

Mr Martin said it is a “worry” that very few younger people have a realistic prospect of owning their own home.

Some announcements expected by Minister for Housing Simon Coveney this week will be budgetary measures that will not be finalised until October's budget.

The confidence and supply agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael commits Mr Martin's party to facilitating budgets introduced by Fine Gael, as long as there is broad policy agreement between the parties.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Martin said his party is looking for firm action from the Government to help solve the housing crisis.

“We are looking for strong executive action and implementation,” the Cork South Central TD said. “We have had quite a number of strategies published. We don’t need any more. Some of this may not require legislation, some may.

“We would be looking to the budget in that context; that there would be some incentive for first-time buyers.”

‘A worry’

He cited research from the Economic and Social Research Institute that showed those between 18 and 30 are having a tougher time of it in

Ireland

than the over-65s.

“Young people coming out of college today and going into the workplace have lots of challenges in terms of the nature of their work; the length of the work; remuneration; contracts; can they get a mortgage? Very few are looking at the prospect of owning a house – that’s a worry.”

The Fianna Fáil general election manifesto called for a first-time buyer’s scheme that would see the Government top up savings for a mortgage deposit by 25 per cent, up to a maximum of €5,000 per person. The proposal allows joint purchasers to access two separate savings accounts, which could lead to €10,000 per couple.

Mr Martin claimed that, during talks on government formation, “everyone else borrowed our idea”. A help to buy scheme was tabled by Fine Gael in its talks with Independent deputies and was included in the Programme for Government, although its exact mechanism has yet to be decided.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil “will do anything we can, within reason, to get houses built, to get people out of hotels in Dublin”.

Mr Martin also said Fianna Fáil housing spokesman Barry Cowen has called for a "Tsar of housing" to tackle problems.

Student accommodation

Fianna Fáil also wants more investment in student accommodation. “We think that is going to happen independently of the Minister and the Government. Some universities are getting investment fund money and they are going to go.”

Mr Cowen himself has called for the Government to raise off-balance-sheet funding to increase the supply of social houses.