There are concerns that changes to the help-to-buy scheme will not stop house prices rising.

The Finance Minister Michael Noonan is expected to confirm today that the value of property to which the scheme applies will be lowered.

The Opposition says the €600,000 mortgage cap is “excessive” and should be dropped to €400,000.

It is being reported that the Housing Minister Simon Coveney is not convinced as he believes that if the cap is set at €400,000, then effectively there will be people “falling off a cliff” and getting nothing.

One example given is that if a person sold their house for €405,000, they would get nothing, but a person who sold it for €399,000 is going to get around €20,000 back.

The Finance Minister has also warned that cutting mortgage interest rates could cost jobs elsewhere in the economy.

Michael Noonan was speaking as TDs examine plans to give the Central Bank the power to step in and cut variable mortgage rates.

The Minister says there is a risk that if banks are forced to cut mortgage rates, they will have to increase rates elsewhere.

He said: “If you legislate here, we’d like to avoid a situation where a bank wouldn’t move to recover their profits elsewhere in the market by charging more for SME lending where we need economic activity to create jobs.”