Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

——relative to the size of the country. I will deal shortly with the point raised by the Deputy and where the responsibility and blame lies for not delivering on social housing.

Every year for the past five years I have heard the so-called experts say that the housing output will have to drop, that we have reached saturation point, that demand has been exceeded and that there will be a slump. I have heard that year in, year out. Those economists and other experts do not understand what has happened here. With interest rates having fallen in recent years, many more people are in a position to buy houses because their mortgage repayments are lower than they would otherwise have been when I and other Members had to take out mortgages in previous decades. At a minimum, 50,000 to 60,000 immigrants per annum are coming to work here because of our strong economy and they all must be housed. Apart from any other considerations, at least 20,000 houses per annum will need to be provided for the people coming to work here. That is aside from the normal population increase. That has resulted in prices moderating recently.

There are new, three bedroom, semi-detached houses on the market in different towns and villages throughout County Laois starting at €175,000, approximately £140,000, which is excellent value for money. That brings me to the question the Deputy opposite raised about the number of social housing units being provided. The blame for the lack of delivery of social housing rests 100% on the shoulders of the local authorities.

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