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

We are starting. The Deputy can look at the increase to which we have referred. The Department of housing will make the decision regarding where that allocation goes but I imagine the majority will go into housing. If we look at the increase in capital investment in recent years, total funding for the Department of housing has gone from €1.7 billion to a planned figure of €4.2 billion next year. In that period, funding has doubled. The Deputy is talking about the need for funding to double in the future. I am saying it has doubled in the past. The way it has doubled is that, year by year, we have put in place a significant increase in capital investment. I am confident we will be able to maintain that investment in the future.

The Deputy is making the argument that if additional funding goes into the Department of housing and local government and if other budget lines, not just the housing line, go up, that the other budget lines are irrelevant to where we on housing. All the money that goes into the Department of housing and local government plays a role in more homes being built. That is not the case only in respect of the direct line for local authority and public housing. All the money that goes in plays a role. Whether money is going into local property taxes or into our local authorities, it all plays a role to a varying degree.