Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I completely disagree with Mr. McCarthy on that point. This is one of the questions I wanted to put to him. What does he have to say about the housing crisis at the moment, as a macroeconomic problem? It seems to me that we need major investment, and not only from the point of view of the people who are homeless on the streets. I imagine it will start to become a problem in terms of foreign direct investment as well if people cannot afford to live here. Average rents now in Dublin for two-bedroom accommodation are approximately €1,700, €1,800, €1,900 or more, perhaps €2,000. What proportion of an average income is that? To my mind, there is a major macroeconomic imbalance if the cost of accommodation is perhaps half or more than half of the average income. Does Mr. McCarthy not consider that this is something we should be concerned about?