MICHAEL NOONAN’S FIANNA Fáil counterpart has dismissed the Finance Minister’s plan to kick-start the commercial housing sector as “pre-election gimmick”.

As part of the Government’s Construction 2020 scheme, it’s planned a portion of mortgages for first-time buyers will be guaranteed by the State. It’s hoped the initiative will encourage banks to begin lending more.

Noonan said last night that the scheme would be for first time buyers and would be temporary in nature, adding “we’re working out the details of it between now and the Finance Bill”.

“I think it’s been cobbled together with ten days to go to an election where Fine Gael and Labour are certainly fearing a pretty savage backlash from the Irish people,” Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath told reporters this morning.

“I think the proposal that he has come up with doesn’t address the real problems the first time buyers are facing.

The main problem is the lack of adequate supply at certain locations around parts of Dublin and indeed other pockets around the country as well.

McGrath also took issue with the Finance Minister’s comment that first-time buyers were having to come up with “something like 20 per cent” of a home’s value before they would be granted a mortgage.

“The main banks are offering 90 per cent for first time buyers,” McGrath said, adding that he expected the measures to be significantly watered down by the time the Finance Bill is announced later this year.

Read: No, our new plan won’t fuel a housing bubble – Michael Noonan