Fine Gael Councillor Tom O’Leary said recently, “Extra measures agreed by Cabinet recently under the Housing for All plan will speed up home building and drive down building costs in Fingal, and these additional provisions are good news for home buyers, renters and builders.” He said, “There are three strands to these new measures, which is designed to and will make home ownership more affordable for many people again. The measures comprise of: 1. Reducing the cost of construction: by scrapping the development levies required to connect new homes with roads, water and other services, and subsidising development levies, saving up to the value of €12,650 per home on average. This will cut the cost of building a home and apply for a limited time only to act as an incentive. 2. Increasing the pace at which vacant and derelict properties are renovated for new housing by increasing grants to cut the cost of restoring empty homes and making it easier to apply. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant will be increased from €30,000 to €50,000 for vacant properties and from €50,000 to €70,000 for derelict properties, extended to cover houses built up to 2007, and will be available for properties intended for rental as well as owner-occupied. 3. Is the Government financing of the construction of affordable apartments under Cost Rental: The current Government has agreed to commit up to €750 million via the Land Development Agency and other providers as part of this initiative to complete 4,000 to 6,000 additional affordable apartments under the Cost Rental system.