Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State spoke earlier about how demand in the private sector was being met by the number of houses being built. He said that 70,000 houses were completed in 2004. Clearly, there will be a shortfall in demand in the future. As demand is met, a capacity in the construction industry, particularly in the private construction industry, to build more houses will arise. Could the Minister of State devise a scheme whereby the Government would work with the Construction Industry Federation and other interested parties to involve them in building the necessary social and affordable housing? The way to close the gap is to take advantage of the additional capacity in the construction industry, thereby meeting the targets in the NESC report. It would be a dynamic new way of dealing with the problem of social housing.

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