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The scheme is open to first-time buyers of newly built houses and apartments. Alamy Stock Photo

Government's €400 million shared equity scheme for first-time buyers now open for applications

The scheme aims to help people secure a home by providing part of the purchase price of the dwelling in return for a minority equity stake.

A €400 MILLION scheme to help first-time buyers afford newly built homes has opened for applications.

The ‘First Home’ shared equity scheme is one of the key pillars in the government’s Housing for All plan.

It aims to help people secure a home by providing part of the purchase price of the dwelling in return for a minority equity stake.

The maximum stake the scheme will take is 20%, if the buyer is also availing of the Government’s separate Help to Buy scheme, and 30% if Help to Buy is not used.

The equity stake is free for the first five years followed by a cheap interest rate thereafter.

The scheme is open to first-time buyers of newly built houses and apartments in private developments anywhere in Ireland.

It is planned that the €400 million scheme will facilitate the purchase of up to 8,000 homes over a five-year period.

To secure the funding applicants will have to borrow the maximum mortgage amount available to them from the participating lenders.

The scheme is currently open to customers of AIB, including their EBS and Haven mortgage businesses, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB. Other mortgage providers may join up in the coming months.

The Central Bank cleared the way for banks to take part in the scheme last November but warned that, in the short term, the plan could increase house prices.

Sinn Féin has also been critical of the scheme, also saying it would lead to rising house prices. It previously tabled motions calling for the scheme to be scrapped.

Housing minister Darragh O’Brien said the scheme will “literally open the door for many first-time buyers.”

“This scheme we are launching today will support first-time buyers and those seeking a fresh start by helping to bridge the gap between what they can afford and the price of the home they wish to purchase.

“It will make new homes more affordable and easier to access for first-time buyers, helping them get their foot on that crucial first rung of the property ladder. It will encourage the increased development of new build homes.

“This Government is working to give young and not so young people a real chance to buy their own home. Today’s announcement is another step in that direction,” O’Brien concluded.

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    Mute CrabaRev
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    Feb 26th 2019, 8:42 AM

    @Ann Lennon:
    From reading this and other articles, it would appear that the “fall from grace” was in his mind.
    A much more pertinent question, was the councillor with with whom he had 10 sessions suitably qualified to determine whether Hawe was a danger to himself or his family? I think “the two felt a connection.” is an extraordinary statement.

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    Mute James Wallace
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    Feb 26th 2019, 9:44 AM

    @John Jones: the point is they don’t know. The gardai won’t release the files and the school has never once contacted the family.

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    Mute James Wallace
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    Feb 26th 2019, 11:32 AM

    @John Jones: no, not a deliberate cover up, but the family are entiteled to some answers to their legitimate questions. The fact that the school has never contacted these people is not speculation, it’s fact, according to them.

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    Mute Anthony Gallagher
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    Feb 26th 2019, 10:32 AM

    Tragic and cruel, but there are far too many experts on here giving their twopence worth.If only mental health was that easy to diagnose,leave it to those that have some idea what they are talking about .

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    Mute Matt Beaumont
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    Feb 26th 2019, 10:41 AM

    @Anthony Gallagher: well obviously they didn’t in that case.

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    Mute John Jones
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    Feb 26th 2019, 10:46 AM

    @James Wallace: Do you think theres a cover up. I think it’s sad how there’s a massive slight being put on the school based on pure speculation.

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    Mute Jane
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    Feb 26th 2019, 2:18 PM

    @CrabaRev: I dont think it’s true to say the fall from grace was in his head. From the Independent.

    He has said in his own words that he was caught red-handed and we do know that he was looking at pornography….

    “We’ve had sight of the counselling notes and he had said he was masturbating somewhere that he shouldn’t have been… So we have pieces of information but we don’t know who caught him.
    “We do know, in the June, he cancelled all his counselling sessions and this all happened the day before he was to return to school,” she said. “He said that it was easier for them to die than to have to live with the truth of what he was doing.”

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Feb 26th 2019, 8:10 PM

    @Jane: The counselor said that he said this?? She was in a position to go to gardai with this information; patient confidentiality goes out the window when there is a real risk to life. Did she pass this information onto the guards before the murders?

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    Mute CrabaRev
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    Feb 26th 2019, 4:54 PM

    @Jane: I replied to your comment, but my comment was deleted for some weird Journal.ie reason. What you have just quoted from the Indo was a quote from Clodagh’s sister.

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    Mute GerryCummins
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    Feb 27th 2019, 12:19 AM

    It seems it is about the will, and who gets what! Which family benefits from the assets left over…I was wondering why this case had come up again. It is petty infighting between family…..over the assets left behind…

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    Mute Maria Hickey-Fagan
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    Feb 27th 2019, 12:57 AM

    @GerryCummins: would you ever stop. This is a broken, devastated family looking for answers.

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    Mute Anne O'Brien
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    Feb 28th 2019, 4:33 AM

    This Family needs answers, why do they not have the full story. Release all records if you will not share the truth. That councillor statement is bizarre, and a big worry if you ask me. Badly done school. I say wow Mammy, Sister, Granmother, and Aunt you are now fighting for the defenseless I really hope you get your answers. Why O Why

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    Mute helen walsh
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    Feb 27th 2019, 12:40 AM

    My comments are constantly removed, who is behind that? Is my personal information being given to cronies..

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