Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their presentations. The direction in which we are going with housing is a big disappointment. I question the economics of it because we are moving away from the delivery of social housing. I do not just mean building social housing but acquiring it in various areas at current prices which would be far more attractive than the costs involved in building houses. One could get housing now at a very good price.

The waiting list for social housing is approximately 98,000. It is increasing at a dramatic rate. We also have more than 100,000 people on rental subsidy and RAS. Some of those people are receiving rental subsidy for up to ten years. We are spending approximately-----