Sinn Féin kas hit out at the government over its shared equity loan and said that it is making the housing crisis in Ireland "worse".

Spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, made the comments after the First Home Scheme announced that 750 buyers have been approved for the loan and that the government is raising the purchase price caps.

Teachta Ó Broin said: "The shared equity loan is a bad policy. It pushes up house prices and makes it more difficult for people to buy their home. Despite widespread criticism of the scheme from economists, think-tanks, the ESRI and Central Bank, the government has ploughed ahead.

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"At the end of December, the government announced it was raising the price caps for the scheme, clearly demonstrating that the market had already adjusted to the increased borrowing capacity that the scheme provides.

"Today the First Home Scheme published their first update indicating that 750 loans have been approved. The average loan amount state wide was €71,000 with the average loan in Dublin being €81,000.

"While some commentators have said that the raised caps are an indication of the scheme chasing house price inflation, the opposite is the case. The scheme itself is contributing to that inflation. This point was made in the Davy-MyHome.ie report released last week.

"Not only is the scheme pushing up house prices, it is also saddling working people with significantly increased debt, which in some cases could cause significant financial issues in the future.

"Government should scrap this scheme and redirect the funds into the delivery of homes at prices people can actually afford."