Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
258. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Finance the estimated cost of extending the additional 5% increase of the help-to-buy scheme retrospectively to include all beneficiaries of the scheme that have drawn down the grant since March 2020; his views on such an extension to the stimulus; and if he will report on same. [21307/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am advised by Revenue that the cost of extending the additional 5% increase of the Help to Buy scheme (and €30,000 maximum cap), that was introduced in the July stimulus package on 23 July, to all claims approved between 1 March 2020 and 22 July 2020 is estimated to be in the region of €13m.
In relation to the proposition that the scheme should be extended to include all HTB applicants since March last, the position is that the Government decided, and the Oireachtas endorsed in passing the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No.2) Act 2020, that the threshold date for eligibility for the enhanced level of support was 23 July 2020. The approach adopted, whereby the date of the announcement was the same as the commencement date (for the enhanced level of support), mirrored that which applied when the HTB scheme was originally introduced on 19 July 2016. It would not be possible to seek to move the qualification date for the enhanced level of support as proposed by the Deputy.
