Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I will be fairly brief. Dr. Hearne provided a statistic that Austria has 24% social housing. Ireland has a social housing stock of 9%. I wonder is that the solution, and should our aim be, at a minimum, to achieve the average European level, which is 17% social housing stock? If we achieve that, would we be protected from the housing bubbles and the boom and burst cycles we seem to continue to go through?

Most, if not all, social housing stock across Europe is off-balance sheet and is not constrained by fiscal policy. I wonder whether we should be looking at a model in which our local authorities could deliver off-balance sheet social housing stock. We need affordable housing as well as social housing. I believe that this is putting huge demands on the whole housing sector. I am aware that we will debate the constitutional right to a home in the Dáil this evening and I wonder how much difference that would make if it was in place tomorrow morning. Is this not the result of Government policy over a number of years where we have moved away from investing directly in public housing?