Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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This is a very interesting discussion because we often find ourselves in a position where we do not have money. Now we are in a position where we have a great deal of money. The skill required now is to determine how we manage and balance that with what we need and with future needs. That is why it is important the committee had a discussion with Professor Stephen Kinsella some weeks ago. He had an interesting take on what we should be doing with the windfall revenue we have. He stated we should use it to invest and use the interest to pay for the future developments we need.

When people see that the Government has a great deal of money at the moment, the demands become bigger. It is how one manages that demand while delivering at the same time. As a member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, I believe we need to invest in disabilities and all that goes with it in terms of the additional cost of having a disability and living with a disability. We need to take the first steps to meet what was delivered to us in the Indecon report in 2019.

On housing, our biggest challenge is not so much money but the capacity to do what we want to do. The more we delay, the more it will cost. Deputy Durkan spoke about housing and the Minister answered by outlining how the targets for this year will be met, noting also that the indications from planning are that numbers are beginning to grow. There is, however, something fundamentally wrong with how long it takes to get projects shovel-ready.

There is a strong emphasis on modular building, off-site construction and all of that. While that helps, the biggest help needed is in the time from inception of a project to getting construction started on site. As an emergency measure, we need to do something for housing in the short term and help the dysfunctional private housing market. We need to tackle that immediately so that we do not end up relying completely on social housing for everybody in the country. There are people who want to build but we lack sewerage infrastructure, especially in our towns and villages. Some of the money the Government is talking about allocating for capital expenditure should be used to address that. We have a pilot scheme for sewerage worth €50 million. To be honest, we should be looking at ten times that figure over the next five years to address this issue head on. I ask the Ministers to comment on that.

Inflation is the biggest evil facing us and we do not know where it is going. We heard the sobering figure that the national debt has cost us €3.6 billion this year in interest payments alone. We have to pay attention to that all of the time.

People see that we have a lot of money and everybody wants a piece of the action. It is very important that we get the right balance and deliver some of the gains we need, especially with vulnerable people and in housing.

There are some shovel-ready projects in all of the Departments which should be targeted immediately to see how we can get them done. I will give the Ministers one simple example. The western rail corridor is ready to be done. If the Government were to agree to do that project, it could be done over the next two and a half years and there would be immediate economic benefits.