Help to Buy Scheme Faces Renewed Scrutiny as Figures Fuel Debate Over Eligibility
Dublin: Ireland’s Help to Buy scheme, introduced to support first-time buyers entering the housing market, is facing renewed scrutiny following the release of figures showing a significant gap between applications and approvals. However, the figures have also prompted debate over how the data is being interpreted, particularly amid claims that migrants are disproportionately benefiting from the scheme.
Official figures show that 48,878 Help to Buy applications had been approved since July 2020, involving 88,532 individuals. The difference is largely explained by joint applications, as couples buying a property together can be included in a single application. As a result, the number of individuals involved cannot be directly compared with the number of approved applications to determine the rejection rate.
Under the scheme, eligible first-time buyers can receive a tax refund of up to €30,000 when purchasing or building a new home. The amount available is limited to the lower of €30,000, 10% of the property’s value, or the amount of qualifying income tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax paid during the relevant period.
The scheme applies only to qualifying new-build or self-built homes, while the property must generally have a purchase price or approved valuation of no more than €500,000.
Foreign property ownership under scrutiny
Another source of controversy is the eligibility of applicants who previously owned property outside Ireland. Under the first-time buyer rules, a person who has previously purchased or built a home in Ireland or abroad would generally not qualify.
Revenue has recovered money in cases involving breaches of Help to Buy conditions, including situations where applicants failed to meet the requirement to occupy the assisted property as their main residence for the specified period. Questions have also been raised about cases involving undisclosed overseas property ownership.
However, there is no official evidence showing that such cases are widespread within any particular migrant or immigrant community.
No evidence to support nationality-based claims
Official data on home purchases also does not support claims that a particular immigrant community dominates the Irish housing market through the Help to Buy scheme.
In 2022, 75.8% of homebuyers were Irish citizens. Other EU nationals accounted for 10.6%, while buyers from Asian countries represented 6.7%. Buyers from Britain, the United States, Africa and other regions made up the remainder.
The available data does not provide a detailed breakdown for individual nationalities such as Indians, Poles or Romanians. Therefore, claims that citizens of a particular country are the largest beneficiaries of the scheme cannot be established from the published figures.
Complex rules remain a concern
The controversy highlights broader concerns about the complexity of the Help to Buy system. Applicants can lose eligibility because of errors or because they fail to satisfy one of the scheme’s detailed conditions.
The scheme has been particularly widely used in areas including Dublin, Cork, Kildare and Meath, where housing demand and prices remain high.
Questions are also being raised over whether the €500,000 property price ceiling remains realistic as house prices continue to rise, whether support should remain restricted to new homes, and whether existing checks are sufficient to identify previous property ownership overseas.
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