FIRST-TIME BUYERS' GRANT: The Government will be asked to drop its decision to abolish grants for first-time house buyers at next week's Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party meeting by Mr Noel O'Flynn TD.
Most of Mr O'Flynn's fellow backbenchers are not supporting his call to reverse the abolition, which was announced by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, on Thursday, but they may be influenced by the public reaction they receive at weekend constituency clinics.
Emphasising that he supported the thrust of the Book of Estimates, Mr O'Flynn said: "The decision will have to be reversed. My wife and I could not have bought our first house without the grant. Many others are the same.
"Builders are not going to reduce their prices by the amount of the grant. This grant is an incentive to people to purchase their own home. What we are doing will act as an actual disincentive to them," he said.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Mr John McGuinness said some form of means-testing should be made before Budget Day to ensure that people on low incomes still qualified for the first-time allowance.
However, Dublin North TD Mr Jim Glennon said he had received very little public reaction to the abolition.
"I remember from my own time in the legal business that the grant was 'trousered' by builders. It is a bit of an anachronism. It would be wrong to ask to change it."
Labour said the abolition of the grants has tilted the housing market even further in favour of investors.
The party's spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said it would now be more difficult for young couples to compete for new homes against better-resourced investors.
"Minister McCreevy, however, can always be relied upon to favour the rich," said Mr Gilmore.
Mr Malcolm Byrne, the Fianna Fáil chairman of Gorey Town Commissioners, said he was contacting other younger party colleagues, who were opposed to the decision. They would be seeking a meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen.
Mr Gay Mitchell of Fine Gael said the abolition of the scheme had hit many people who had paid deposits on new homes but not yet signed contracts.
Mr Mitchell said most of the buyers of 216 affordable housing units sold last week at the Cedar Brook scheme in Cherry Orchard, west Dublin, were first-time buyers. However, because none had signed contracts, they would lose the grant they presumed they had.
The Government had "lied their way back into office on the backs of struggling people like these, while wealthy pals of Ministers, who seem to have direct access to Ministers, can have their capital gains tax reduced and speculation gains pocketed", he said.