Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. I am sorry that I missed some of the debate. I was present initially but then I had to leave due to other commitments. I apologise if I repeat questions that have been asked.

I will start with Mr. McCarthy and his report, which was glowing and it looked good in terms of where we are going. The view is that we seem to be getting on top of the housing issue but that is not the reality on the ground. I know this because I represent a rural constituency, Carlow-Kilkenny. The number of homeless people is at 10,000 plus and the waiting list is a mile long and is getting longer. The view Mr. McCarthy gave this morning in his presentation and what the ordinary Joe Soap sees happening on the ground are two different things. Figures are great but the reality is different. We are still in a severe housing crisis. That is well known and no figures will cover up that fact. I would like to get a comment from Mr. McCarthy on that first.