Under the proposed scheme for first time buyers, the State would pay €50 for every €200 saved, capped at €5,000 for a single person and €10,000 for couples.
Such scheme is indeed very similar to the Special Saving Incentive Account (SSIA) scheme, which was introduced by Fianna Fail in 2001.
The SSIA was open to all savers, but the new initiative would only be available to those saving for mortgage deposits.
The proposal was made by the party’s environment spokesman Barry Cowen during Fianna Fail’s Ard Fheis in Dublin this afternoon.
According to him, the State support was part of a “four step roadmap” aimed at addressing the current housing crisis.
He said they would build 150,000 new homes by 2021 by providing funding to developers from the €7bn Strategic Investment Fund.
Also, Mr. Cowen said the party would introduce a new €4bn home building scheme for social housing.
During his speech, he said “Across these 4 steps, Fianna Fáil will build more homes, create more jobs, help more first time buyers, empower more local authority tenants and secure more elderly people in their homes than any other party.”