Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Committee on Budgetary Oversight
Pre-Budget Engagement
3:30 pm
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister has answered it. I am amazed that the Government does not regret what has happened. If we had had that money, it might have made a difference. We could now possibly do with that money but it seems to me that it would have made a dramatic difference to the current housing crisis that we are facing had we had access to that money then and had the Government pursued it instead of defending Apple.
To move to the current position, the Central Bank and the commission are essentially saying that we need to double the housing targets and they strongly emphasise social and affordable housing in particular, which in rough terms means we are going to have to double the social and affordable housing output. What is the Government going to do? Is it going to provide the funds necessary and use the Apple money to deliver the doubling of the housing we need to meet those targets, particularly in the area of social and affordable housing?