A housing expert has warned that government plans to help to first-time buyers could make housing more expensive for everyone.
The government's planning a help-to-buy scheme which could see cash top-ups worth thousands of euro to help savers gather a deposit.
But Dr Lorcan Sirr, a housing lecturer at DIT, says it would breach the previous policy of giving equal help to buyers and renters.
And he says giving cash to buyers will only push up prices, and make housing dearer for everyone:
However the plans have been welcomed by estate agents, who say it would help first-time buyers to buy new properties as they come onto the market - instead of having to potentially wait to gather a deposit while they also spend money on rent.
The measure could be signalled tomorrow when the Government unveils its Action Plan for Housing, but full details may not be unveiled then.
That's because the proposals may have tax implications, which usually only announced on Budget day.
However the scheme may be backdated to take effect from tomorrow's announcement, so as not to impact on the housing market in the meantime.
A similar scheme featured in the election manifestos of both Fianna Fáil and Labour - although the latter is now warning that the scheme ought to have some constraints so that it does not apply to all homes.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
