Mr. John McCarthy:

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to respond. I accept what he says and I do not think anybody sitting on this side of the room does not fully understand the implications of the housing crisis. We visit homeless facilities and we see at first hand what it means for some people. I fully understand and accept, therefore, what he says.

We have embarked on a six-year plan in the form of Rebuilding Ireland. In overall terms, we have exceeded the targets of the first two years and the build piece is increasing, has increased over the past two years and will get to a point in 2021 where it will exceed 8,700, from a point in 2014 or 2015 when it was in the hundreds at most. There is an ambitious plan, therefore. The mix in the early years is a particular mix but it will evolve very much towards the build programme as it is significantly ramped back up to where it was in 2007 or 2008, in terms of scale of build. We are aiming to get there and there is full commitment and dedication to that on this side of the room. There is full understanding of the implications of what the housing situation means for people on a daily basis.