I propose to take Questions Nos. 175 and 225 together.
The First Home Scheme is a demand led scheme, supporting first-time buyers, self-builders and fresh start applicants to bridge the gap between their mortgage capacity and deposit and the price of the new home.
The First Home Scheme Designated Activity Company (DAC), is fully responsible for the operation of the First Home Scheme on behalf of all shareholders – the State and participating pillar banks.
In order to minimise the risk of price distortions in the First-Time Buyer market, the First Home Scheme introduced the concept of Local Authority Price Ceilings from the outset of the Scheme. At its launch, the DAC announced it would review all price ceilings at 6-month intervals. These reviews take into account a range of factors, including the median price and volume of new builds purchased by first time buyers in each local authority area, including at sub county level where relevant. These reviews allow the Scheme to remain adaptive to local market conditions, while also providing support to first time buyers and promoting additional housing supply while mitigating local price distortions. Any change to the methodology of how price ceiling reviews are conducted are a matter for the DAC.
At the end of December 2025, the DAC published the outcome of its seventh scheduled review of the price ceilings that apply to qualifying homes and subsequently revised price ceilings. New price ceilings were agreed for 17 local authority areas, including Tipperary, and these ceilings came into effect on 1 January 2026. The First Home Scheme DAC will continue to monitor the price ceilings as part of any future review.
The new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, contains significant initiatives to reduce costs of construction at a national level. These include updated apartment design standards, reduced tax liabilities, VAT reduction on apartments and standardised design approaches which have the potential to result in significant cost savings making them more viable to construct. The plan also contains a range of actions to support modern methods of construction (MMC), building on the initiatives already in place. MMC has the potential to boost productivity, increase efficiency and improve sustainability in the construction sector. Reductions in delivery timeframes of up to 40%, greater cost certainty and reduced changes during construction have offered both cost and time savings. These initiatives should help reduce the cost of new homes in all local authorities, including Tipperary.
