Oscar Traynor Road housing prices
Deputy Doherty challenged the Tánaiste's claims about the affordability of Oscar Traynor Road homes, saying the prices remained far beyond reach. The Tánaiste defended the subsidy model and argued that more supply is the only real solution.
Last week, I raised with the Tánaiste the fact that homes at Oscar Traynor Road, under a so-called Government affordable housing scheme, would cost between €400,000 and €475,000 for a three-bedroom home. Sinn Féin warned from the beginning that this plan would lead to homes that were unaffordable and out of reach for ordinary people. In the Tánaiste's response to me last week, he said these homes were being advertised at €400,000 but they could be available to home buyers for €300,000 when you combine the first home scheme. That is simply not true, and I am sure, at this stage, the Tánaiste knows that is not true. He has had a week to reflect on his response. Does the Tánaiste now accept that what he put on the Dáil record last week was not true, and that you cannot reduce these prices to €300,000, and you cannot use the first home scheme for this? Therefore, I will go back to my original question. This is a Government scheme that is supposed to deliver affordable housing. Does the Tánaiste accept that €400,000, entry level, and up to €475,000 for a three-bedroom house in Coolock is affordable?
Comment on this
First, I accept that the affordable purchase homes scheme at Oscar Traynor Road are subsidised through the local authority shared equity scheme, not the first home shared equity scheme, as I inadvertently said. However, that does then mean that is also subsidised up to potentially €100,000 under that scheme, plus the €30,000 from the help-to-buy scheme, which the Deputy did not reference. It depends on what the market value of any given house is but there is a State subsidy of €130,000. I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge that.
Comment on this
The only way to deal with affordable housing, in my view, is more supply, and we have to build more houses. I would argue that the schemes, and the multiple schemes we have for affordability, are far superior than anything the Deputy's party has produced so far. In fact, his party would take away those schemes we have provided, and I think that would be very detrimental to affordability and to first-time buyers in particular.