Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I refer to page 31, table 6, on the budgetary projections for 2020 to 2025. Specifically, I am looking at the capital spending as per the stability programme update, SPU, and the summer economic statement, SES. I notice that next year the difference in capital is only €800 million over what the SPU had projected. We are all aware that it took additional time for this summer economic statement to come out. There appears to have been a squabble in relation to this. The reality is that people of my generation are locked out of housing given the huge rents. It is the view of so many people that they will never be able to afford to buy their own home. That €800 million does not go far enough. I assume some of that money is going to housing and that some of it is going to climate.

It is not just myself and my colleagues who are talking about the housing crisis and the amount of money that needs to be spent on housing. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, said that it needs to be doubled. At the same time, there is a tax measure of €0.5 billion. If one compares that to the €800 million for extra capital, I do not see how that can be justified and how the housing crisis is being taken seriously, given that people are in such utter despair.