David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I return to Mr. McDonagh's opening statement. In it he said that the CSO estimates that about 14,500 new units were completed in 2017 and that will increase to 18,000 units in 2018. That is far short of the 30,000 or 35,000 units that were estimated would be required. Mr. McDonagh continued by saying that the gap between the annual private housing supply and demand is unlikely to be bridged for three or four years. Is that a bit optimistic when one considers those figures? If one looks at figures of 14,500 rising to 18,000, that falls far short of the 30,000 or 35,000. Why did he say three or four years? On what was that based?