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

I absolutely understand we are facing an inflationary risk in the pricing of raw materials, an issue that has been raised with me by businesses. On the other hand, the great challenge we faced in construction over recent years concerned the degree to which construction was competing with other priorities apart from housing within the economy, such as the delivery of commercial property, the building of hotels and other priorities that obtained at that point. My expectation, for the short term if not longer, is that in respect of some of the other priorities the construction sector was seeking to deliver ahead of housing, a rebalancing may occur that allows a greater priority to be given to the delivery of housing within the economy. While I accept there are issues with the pricing of raw materials and there will be issues with how we rebuild the number of workers we will need to get our construction sector up and running again, it is possible that the demand for some of the other things the construction sector has wanted to deliver in recent years may change.

From a capital point of view, we are going to continue to invest heavily in the delivery of homes. The total level of voted capital expenditure, before the Government adds to it in the coming period, stands at between €10 billion and €11 billion per year. When the previous Government, of which the Deputy was a member, started in 2016, that figure was between €3 billion and €4 billion. It has increased significantly and, unlike during the previous crisis, we are not planning to cut back on it. That will play a very positive role in delivering our priorities in housing and elsewhere.