Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I strongly agree with Deputy Canney in that area. I agree with the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. They have a role to play and a comment to make. Each of us has approached them individually on many occasions in recent years in order to put forward proposals that have not yet been favoured. However, there is always a first time and our current position regarding housing requires a fairly dramatic and drastic response.

There are a number of agencies involved with the lending business. I met representatives of Trinity Ireland Housing Association some time ago and they had proposals to provide funding off-balance sheet. The difficulty is that most of these agencies borrow money at 3% or 4%, whereas the Government can borrow money at less than 1%. We should clearly try to position ourselves to get the benefit of the cheapest money available. That is in the national interest and in the interest of the economy in general, as well as everybody in the country. We must speak with the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform about this. As I have suggested before, a housing development bond could be floated, with a view to meeting the requirements under this heading off-balance sheet and trying to ensure we can do so in the shortest time possible.