Harris says he won't go into Govt with a party that wants to scrap Help-to-Buy and First Home schemes

SIMON HARRIS HAS said his party will not go into government with anyone who wants to scrap the Help-to-Buy and First Home Schemes. 

The Taoiseach was responding to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns who said that the government’s housing policy has resulted in house prices increasing by 10% nationally.

With an election due to be called in the coming weeks, political parties are drawing division lines on a number of issues, with the Taoiseach appearing to draw a red line today on one matter:

“If I’m to be in the next government, the Help-to-Buy scheme is staying, it’s absolutely staying.

“If you want to get rid of it, and if you want to tell the people who are processing their applications, probably right now with banks across the country, that you’re in favour of getting rid of it, fair play, that’s your position.

“It’s not mine. And I won’t go into government with anybody who doesn’t keep it. It needs to be kept, as does the First Home scheme. Both of them need to be kept.”

Harris said the grants were helping bridge the gap between what they can afford and the cost of buying a home.

However, Cairns argued that the average house prices in Ireland were at €345,000 and “a staggering” €462,000 in Dublin.

Cairns said that as soon as people think they have saved enough of a deposit to buy a home, “the goalposts shift” and “people are losing hope”.

“A vote for this government will be a vote for record house prices, record rents, record homelessness and over half a million adults living in their childhood bedrooms.”

Under the Social Democrats’ plan, Cairns said three-bed homes could be delivered in Dublin for less than €300,000 per year and prices would be below €260,000 in the rest of the country.

She added: “Taoiseach, do you think house price increases of more than €20,000 per year are sustainable or affordable in any way, and do you accept the Government policy is driving record house prices?”

Harris defended the government’s handling of housing and said the two schemes for first-time buyers were “making a very significant difference” to “bridge the gap”.

The Help-to-Buy scheme offers grants of up to €30,000 to buy a new-build home worth up to half a million euros.

The First Home scheme, also called the shared equity scheme, sees the government and a bank pay up to 30% of the cost of a first-time buyer’s new-build home in return for a stake in it.

Harris defended the government’s housing record, stating that 500 first-time buyers are buying their own home every single week. 

“So when we look at headline house figures, that doesn’t tell the full story because we are intervening in terms of a level of subsidy that is without precedent in this country.”

Cairns responded: “Median house prices are soaring by more than 20,000 euro a year, and listening to you, you’d swear that’s evidence of a plan that’s working.”

Political divisions being drawn 

While Harris has said that the scrapping of the housing policies would be red lines for the Fine Gael party going into government with certain parties, Cairns said last week that her party’s red line is that the next government must have a dedicated Minister for Disabilities. 

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has also moved to create clear space between his party and his government colleagues. 

O’Gorman said public transport has been the “poor relation” in Ireland for too long, making the point that only the Greens can be trusted to continue the recent investment in projects such as Dart+, Metrolink, and the roll out of new Dart carriages.

Speaking about the extension of the Luas to Finglas by 2031, O’Gorman said the Green Party has “absolutely prioritised investment in public transport over the last four and half years”. 

“For too long public transport was the poor relation of transport focus here in Ireland.  The Green Party have changed that, and one of the key cases we’ll be making in the upcoming general election is that if you want to see continued investment in public transport, it’s really important to have Greens in the next Government,” he added. 

With reporting by Christina Finn