Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is okay, but when I look at the Department's five-page document certain things are picked out. I accept that employment is up and that must be welcomed, but it is a discussion for another day as to what type of employment is up, for example, zero-hours contracts and work involving precarious hours. Mr. Moran presents some figures by way of backup for the thriving economy and his view that we are going in the right direction.

There are other figures that indicate the economy is not thriving at all. We see house prices increasing by €1,000 a week and a complete crisis in direct construction by local authorities which is leading to vast waiting lists. For example, the waiting list in Galway goes back to 2002, which means that people have been waiting for 15 years and not a single house has been constructed. Mr. McCarthy has referred to the billions going into housing, but the money is actually going into housing assistance payments which go straight into the pockets of landlords. In turn, this artificially maintains house prices at an unacceptable level. Where does this feature in the five-page document? Can the Department of Finance stand over it as housing policy?