Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has indicated to the House that he believes the Government should, as indeed we all would, feel bound by the signatories of our predecessors or whomever for the time being was leader of our respective parties and that he feels duty bound in terms of the delivery of the commitments contained in the programme for Government because that was what his predecessor signed up to. The kernel of the question is whether the Taoiseach would accept that the programme for Government, as Deputies here have been pointing out to him — it must be as evident to him as to anyone else here — no longer reflects a set of deliverables that he and this Government can live up to and can meet the expectations that have been created in the public mind.

Is the Taoiseach aware, for instance, that under the housing section of the programme for Government there is a commitment to deliver 90,000 housing units to meet the needs of 90,000 household units in the period of this Government and that there is direct reference in the programme to taking up the slack arising from the expected and slight downturn or slowdown in overall housing completion? Does he accept that a slight slowdown is not what has happened since last year? What we have seen is the total collapse of the construction sector and mass unemployment arising therefrom.

The programme for Government no longer reflects the reality faced by countless people across the State. Does the Taoiseach recognise that the Government should be committed to a programme for Government that would seriously seek to address both the housing needs and essential infrastructural requirements would, as a joint exercise, help to inject recovery into the economy? Does he accept that we are talking——

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