Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I will deal with the first question raised. Of course we are going to do all we can to try to deliver a significant increase in the building of homes as quickly as we can. I do not need to tell Deputy Durkan about the step back we have taken in home construction due to the impact of Covid-19. This is why trying to open construction in Ireland safely is so important and that is what we are trying to do. In the funding decisions we will make for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage we will try to ensure we have the level of funding in place to allow those involved to build as many homes as quickly as they can and in the greatest number.

That leads on to a point the Deputy made with me. As much as we want to do this quickly, we have constraints in terms of the size of the construction sector as it rebuilds itself after Covid and in terms of the need to ensure we have sufficient planning permission available to be activated for building. These are all issues Deputy Durkan is well aware of. I would respond to the key point he is making by saying we are trying to put in place the funding and commitment to build as much as we can as quickly as we can.

The second issue raised related to inflation and price controls. Deputy Durkan will be aware of the real legal obstacles in place when it comes to the installation of price controls. He will know better than I do we operate within the Single Market and within the European Union. Price controls are legally difficult to do. Moreover, I am not sure they are always in the best interests of the consumer.

That being said, inflation is undoubtedly an issue we need to monitor closely in Ireland. The inflation outlook for the Irish economy is moderate, at between 0.7% and 1% for the economy overall. However, the inflation figures published in America yesterday were in excess of 5%. This demonstrates to us the pressures under way elsewhere in the global economy. What can we do to try to mitigate their effect in Ireland? It is about supply and taking measures to drive efficiency in the economy. Then it will be about safely opening in a sustainable way so that as higher demand for certain things materialises, fuelled by higher levels of savings within the economy, we have an economy that is operating as normally as possible to provide the goods and services to meet those demands. These are the avenues through which we will be better able to deliver rather than by imposing price controls within our economy, for the reasons I have touched on.