Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill, to discuss what has happened in the past ten or 15 years and to try to take a positive view of what will happen in the next ten or 15 years.

I enjoyed meeting the Minister of State in recent days in my constituency of County Meath where house building has been a priority in recent years. When, after ten years of trying, I was finally nominated to contest an election to the Dáil I thought it would be easy to get elected. I started my campaign on St. Stephen's Day when I visited Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin, Ratoath and Ashbourne with about 25 children to distribute leaflets. Every time I thought I had reached the end of a housing estate I found I had come upon the start of another. I realised also that only GAA people recognised me and I knew at once that I had a job to do.

I have been always pleased to see new housing. The building industry has a dirty name at present but it is fantastic that so many houses were built. Although some new houses may have problems, I hope those that have not been completed, whether in Longford, Roscommon, Nobber or elsewhere, will not be knocked. We fought for housing and population trends suggest this country will have 8 million people in 25 years. We should consolidate what we have and hold on to what has been built. Money invested in housing is always well spent.

Last weekend, I visited County Kerry, the only county I had not visited in the past five years. It is great to travel on good roads and much good work clearly has been done. Politicians have never had such responsibility for the housing sector because builders no longer have money. While most of those involved in the construction industry were good builders, some were caught out by purchasing lands and sites at excessive prices. Zoning was also excessive. This is a great time to consolidate.

We should have adopted the Australian approach whereby builders who build 500 houses, for example, are not allowed to hand over the keys until schools and infrastructure are in place. The Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, on his recent visit to County Meath, showed great interest in Dunboyne, Ratoath and Ashbourne. We must provide jobs in the countryside rather than in cities in order that people drive from urban centres to work rather than vice versa.

I will support any measure to secure houses or to provide infrastructure. It is a pity the banks are a dead duck and of no help to anyone. The longer we allow the current position to continue, the worse matters will become. Thousands of young people who are in a position to buy three or four bedroom houses for €150,000, €160,000 or €170,000, which is equivalent to approximately £130,000, cannot obtain the funds to do so. Given that the cost would be spread over 30 years, we must help young couples to buy homes, particularly when so many are lying idle. We should work together to address the problem.

As the Minister is attending a conference, there is no point asking him, on behalf of people in County Meath, to drop the ban on stag hunting. We are not hurting anybody.

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