Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have probably said enough on the issue. To my mind, it is the most pressing issue and the one that the Government has indicated is its top priority. If the housing delivery plan for my local authority - which has been signed off by the Department - is anything to go by, after applying a little bit of pressure in trying to extract the figures I know that the local authority's plan for the duration of Housing for All will mean that there will be more people on the housing list at the end of the five-year period than there are now, given the additional numbers that the local authority estimates will join it. Currently, there is a 20-year waiting list. If that is as far we are going to go, we will still be in trouble on this issue in five years' time. Added to that, the Minister has rightly identified the issue of rising costs in the construction sector, which has already scuppered one co-operative project in my area that was due to start. The co-op developer said it could not deliver the project at the cost previously estimated.