Help to Buy vs the First Home Scheme: How Ireland's Two Supports Differ
Published 28 July 2026
Ireland has two main supports for first-time buyers of a new home, and they work in opposite ways. Help to Buy, run by Revenue, refunds income tax and DIRT you have already paid, up to €30,000, and puts it toward your deposit; you keep full ownership. The First Home Scheme instead takes an equity share of up to 30% of the price, or 20% if you also use Help to Buy, in exchange for cash that closes the gap between your mortgage, your deposit, and the price. One is a refund you keep. The other is shared ownership you buy back.
Help to Buy: a tax refund toward your deposit
Help to Buy gives first-time buyers back some of the income tax and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) they paid over the previous four years, to spend on the deposit for a new build or self-build. The refund is the lower of €30,000 or 10% of the purchase price, and it can never exceed the tax you have paid. The home has to cost €500,000 or less, and your mortgage must cover at least 70% of the price. Joint buyers combine the tax each has paid, still capped at €30,000 for the property.
On a €400,000 new build, 10% of the price is €40,000, so the refund is capped at €30,000. A couple who paid at least €30,000 in income tax and DIRT between them over four years would get the full €30,000, put it toward the €40,000 deposit the Central Bank rules require, and add €10,000 of their own savings. Nothing here is repaid: it is their own tax coming back, and they own 100% of the home.
The First Home Scheme: shared equity, not a refund
The First Home Scheme takes a different route. The State and participating lenders put in cash to bridge the gap between your mortgage, your deposit, and the price, and in return they take an equity share of the same size in your home. The share can be up to 30% of the price, or up to 20% if you also use Help to Buy, with a minimum of 2.5% of the price or €10,000, whichever is higher. It is for first-time and fresh-start buyers of a new home to live in, you still need a deposit of at least 10%, and the price has to sit under the ceiling for your area.
The share is not a grant and not cashback. There is no charge for the first five years, but from year six a service charge applies: 1.75% a year to begin with, rising to 2.15% in years 16 to 29 and 2.85% from year 30. You can buy the share back at any time, and you must clear it when you sell. Because the buyout is at market value, a home that has risen in price costs more to fully own later. The scheme is not regulated by the Central Bank.
Using them together
The two are designed to stack, and the order matters. Claiming Help to Buy first shrinks the gap the First Home Scheme has to fill, which keeps your equity share, and everything you owe on it later, as small as possible. When both are used the First Home share is capped at 20% of the price.
Carry the earlier example forward. On the €400,000 home the couple have a €40,000 deposit (the €30,000 refund plus €10,000 saved) and a €300,000 mortgage. That leaves €60,000 to find, which the First Home Scheme covers as a 15% equity share, inside the 20% combined cap. They own 85% of the home outright and the scheme owns 15%. From year six, the service charge on that share is about €1,050 a year to start (1.75% of €60,000). The Help to Buy calculator and the First Home Scheme calculator let you run your own numbers.
Which one costs you, and when?
Help to Buy is close to free money, because it is your own tax refunded, with nothing to repay as long as you stay in the home for five years. The First Home Scheme is the opposite kind of deal: it makes a purchase possible that your mortgage and deposit alone could not reach, but you carry a service charge from year six and you owe the equity share, at its future market value, whenever you buy it out or sell. Treat Help to Buy as a straightforward top-up, and the First Home Scheme as a longer-term commitment worth clearing when you can.
Do I qualify for both?
Both need you to be a first-time buyer (or a fresh-start applicant for the First Home Scheme) purchasing a new home to live in. Help to Buy adds the €500,000 price ceiling, the 70% mortgage rule, and the requirement that your tax was paid; the First Home Scheme adds a 10% deposit and the area price ceiling. You can check your Help to Buy position through Revenue's myAccount, and eligibility for the First Home Scheme through its own portal before you commit to a property.
A note on accuracy
The caps and charges here are the figures in place for 2026. Price ceilings for the First Home Scheme vary by county and are revised over time, and Help to Buy depends entirely on your own tax record. For the source rules see Citizens Information on Help to Buy and the First Home Scheme site, and confirm your own position with a regulated mortgage broker.