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

Go raibh maith agat a Leas-Chathaoirleach agus go raibh maith agat a Taoiseach as ucht teacht chun an Choiste seo. I welcome the Taoiseach to the committee. Given the time constraints outlined by the Leas-Chathaoirleach, I will start with housing. Obviously, a core activity of the Taoiseach's Department is the co-ordination role played in the delivery of housing policy. The Cabinet committee on housing is supported by his Department with the publication of quarterly progress reports on the Housing for All plan. Regarding this co-ordination role, I want to address something that was raised during the Taoiseach's parliamentary party meeting yesterday and was reported by media, which was that the Taoiseach said he estimated the current deficit in housing to be approximately 250,000 homes and that it would take a long time to close the gap. If that is the current deficit, it will take until 2029, under the Housing for All output targets, just to meet the existing shortfall which means the Taoiseach's current plan will not meet the additional housing needs that will inevitably arise in the coming decade. The Housing Commission has advised that we require between 42,000 and 62,000 homes to be built per year to close this shortfall, while the targets contained in the Taoiseach's plan are an average of 33,000 homes. Does the Taoiseach accept any responsibility as a member of Government for the last 12 years?