Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Barry is quoting the Minister for Education and Skills out of context. That comment was made in the context of the jobs plan. When Fine Gael entered office, we stated that we had a five-year programme to fix jobs in our economy. There was a structural problem in the economy after coming out of the crisis years. We are still dealing with the legacy of those years in our banking and housing sectors. The Minister for Education and Skills was making the point that we stated it would take five years to implement that plan but it took less than that. We did more in that time than we had said we would. However, during that period, other parties in the Dáil voted against us on every measure we took to create those jobs. We are two years into Rebuilding Ireland and I am 16 months into my term of office. I do not think the Minister for Education and Skills was saying it will take another five years to tackle the housing crisis but, rather, was comparing the five-year Rebuilding Ireland plan and how it is currently being judged to how the Action Plan for Jobs was judged two, three or three and a half years into it. It was ultimately successful.