Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I intend to share my time with Deputy Deenihan.

It is good to have the opportunity to speak on this issue which is, perhaps, the greatest single problem being faced by young adults today in terms of owning their own house. A crisis has been developing since this Administration took office in 1997, which the Government has done its best to ignore, namely, that hundreds of thousands of young people can no longer afford to buy a house. In Wexford, as in other counties, many young people are putting their names on local authority housing lists either because they cannot afford to buy a house or cannot get planning permission.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, have painted a rosy picture of housing in Ireland over the past few years. However, it is far from rosy. They said we were going through a golden age, but nothing is further from the truth. A report today predicts that the average price of a house in Dublin has gone up to €500,000.

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