Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----at the end of the day in terms of decisions we make, but I try to make all these decisions in the context of what I said to Deputy Ryan earlier, that I am deeply aware of the anxiety and difficulty faced by people who cannot get a home. We are trying to do the right thing to change the supply of homes in Ireland to deal with this. The matter of the long-term direction of Rebuilding Ireland is something I am working on with the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and it is a decision he will make in the context of whether I can make more resources available to him. I offered the view, which I stand by, that in the long run we want to be in a position whereby as our economy gets back up to normal housing output, the State is either building homes via local authorities for people who need them and in which they can live, or we have a more normal housing market that delivers the type of homes priced at the right level that our country needs. I am conscious of the fact we have not reached this level of equilibrium from many years. The history of the housing market in Ireland is moving from one set of difficulties to another. This is why I am careful about trying to put in place a long-term framework to deal with the difficulties we have.