James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The response is quite interesting as it does not provide a figure for 2022, which is what I asked for. That is a little frustrating and I wish to underline it. I am sure my constituents in Cork East and every Deputy's constituents want those figures and want certainty. I know the Minister of State shares that view. I thank her for the response and I appreciate it but I ask her to bring back to the Minister the message that I want this year's figures, which I asked for but did not get this morning.

We have done Trojan work. The sole focus of much of the discussion in Fianna Fáil was that we would take the broken housing system when we entered Government in 2020 and try to put in proactive measures to increase the supply of housing, despite having to deal with a pandemic. That cannot be disputed and I fundamentally disagree with what many Opposition parties wanted to do to fix the problem. By tearing up the rule book, we will push the process back by a number of years.

When these houses come on stream, whether it is the houses for which planning permission has been granted or new private housing developments, I am concerned about who is going to buy them. I want domestic residents and first-time buyers in this country to be prioritised over the next two to three years. I make no apology for saying that. We need to tackle the argument that there is a necessity to have vulture and cuckoo funds and other institutional investors involved in financing the construction and purchase of new apartment developments and housing developments in this country in order for them to be built. We must remove that argument and reallocate that demand by looking at the tens of thousands of people who in recent years have clearly demonstrated that they can afford to pay the price of a mortgage because many are paying rents that are double what they would pay in a mortgage. I ask that the Minister champion this matter on behalf of the House with the Central Bank. While I recognise the Central Bank's independence, it is failing and that has to be acknowledged. The social and economic consequence of what is happening when it comes to who is purchasing residential property is absolutely shocking and we need to put a stop to it. That is my view and the view of tens of thousands of young working professionals, many of whom feel they have been forgotten about.

See this speech in context