The government should adopt a Social Democrats’ proposal for a State savings scheme that would help finance the delivery of social and affordable homes, according to the party’s housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.
Deputy Hearne said:
“On RTÉ’s ‘This Week’ programme yesterday, the Tánaiste revealed that the government is drawing up a strategy to help savers get more of a return on their money. But Simon Harris only needs to look to an existing proposal from the Social Democrats for an innovative scheme that would benefit savers while helping to finance State-led homebuilding.
“Our Homes for Ireland Savings Account (HISA) – based on the successful Livret A Model in France – would offer attractive interest rates to savers while financing the delivery of social and affordable homes at the scale required to solve our housing crisis. This would be achieved by leveraging some of the €170 billion in savings in Irish deposit accounts – currently earning very little interest – to build urgently needed homes.
“Our HISA proposal would be a win-win for the State and savers. Even Simon Harris conceded during his radio interview yesterday that the Social Democrats’ proposal was ‘an interesting idea’.
“The only question is: why is the Tánaiste considering his own scheme when there is a smarter solution already staring him in the face?”
February 16, 2026