Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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That would be great. I want to raise the issue of housing. Again, I praise the very clear way in which the council has called out the issue of housing. The report states:

The prolonged undersupply of new housing has led to chronic shortages of properties in both the rental and home ownership markets, resulting in house price increases, rental market pressures and increased homelessness, as households are priced out of local markets. The dysfunction in the housing market has spill-over effects on private enterprises as firms struggle to recruit skilled labour, and face wage pressures as employees demand higher compensation packages ...

We have spoken about the struggle in terms of attracting people into the country but do we not face another challenge, which is hanging on to the young generation of workers we have here in Ireland at the moment? Certainly, that is the case for the people I speak to. I can even cite the guy who works with me at the moment, who has had to move back in with his parents this week at the age of 26 because he cannot afford to rent a house in Limerick. Is the real danger that we are going to lose some of our brightest and best people if we do not tackle the cost of housing in this country?