Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

What we must do now is off-set the reduced activity in residential housing. This Government is bringing forward a substantial public capital programme next year and we will see an increased expenditure in our capital programme, for example, for education, in all of our efforts to find off-sets because of the reduced activity in residential housing, not to the extent that it will compensate adequately for the previous record level of activity because the demand is no longer there for that level of activity, but that level of activity was for many years, as we know, seeking to meet increased demand. Supply could not meet demand for many years and that was the situation that prevailed.

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