Ms Patricia King:

Yes, we agree that this money is very misdirected. Our judgment is that there should be a massive effort now regarding the construction of social and affordable housing and that it should be at the level of 10,000 units per year. It is clear that what is being done falls far short of that if one considers that the number of social houses built in 2017 was 780. That is far off the mark. From our point of view, any plan should entail the construction of 10,000 units per year.

Under HAP, the private market is expected to provide social housing. As market rents increase, the same bad accommodation is available at a higher price. The State is strongly engaging in the market now and is partially responsible for the rent rises because there is such a scarcity of new units coming on stream to provide social and affordable housing. The State is moving around in circles. It has identified public lands and states it has identified money for housing construction. If it has the main pieces in place, why not just go ahead and do it? That sounds like a simple question but it deserves an answer from someone. From our perspective, we hope and expect that the budget will start to provide an answer to that question. We agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett on the misdirection of funds through HAP and various schemes.

I will not deal with the issue of amnesia. Some groups on the employer side make statements about us which I do not give much credibility because they are nonsense. I do not have time for them. The other issues relate more to the attitudes of the employer groups. If the Deputy does not mind, I will leave my responses at that.