Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. Banks were completely out of kilter with reality and they and all of this created the economic catastrophe for us. However, I am glad to say we are moving through that. There was no discussion with any of the people to whom I spoke about housing in Dublin.

In response to the question on child poverty and child neglect, I agree child neglect is an abuse to children's potential, their young minds and the environment in which they are reared. This is an issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, has been trying to deal with the situation of inadequate housing for so many people. The Deputy may think there is a dearth of analysis, but as he has heard me say previously, from a situation where local authorities granted housing permission all over the place for developments that were vast in scale, where 120,000 houses were built when only 20,000 were needed and where the speculative market was at its peak, we are now returning, for the first time in many years, to direct building for social housing.

I agree we need to be able to regulate in as far as possible the management of this development so that we do not cause a housing bubble. This means managing the demand for housing, the scale of land available for building and the process of planning so that there can be a surplus of housing available to keep the property bubble down. Nobody wants to see a return to that bubble nor have we got it now. The Minister of State has already set out her main stall in this regard, in regard to contributions from the HSE, from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and direct build.

There is also a requirement for private enterprise and for the construction sector to step up to the mark, whatever the mix of housing will be, to deal with the problems we have now, where people are sleeping in cars and families with children in bed and breakfast lodgings and hotels. This is not satisfactory and is not the kind of Ireland to which we aspire. However, it is an Ireland and a problem with which we must deal, but we cannot do so overnight.

It is not a case of in any way being inattentive to these issues. The Deputy spoke about a poverty of analysis. The situation on the ground is clearly not satisfactory, but, even given a serious intent to deal with it, it still cannot be dealt with overnight. Even the Deputy will understand this.

Issues such as the provision of social housing are impacted on to the best extent by investment, the creation of growth and wealth in the economy and the creation of jobs. That is why the Government wants to see this filter throughout the land. It is why we have a €500 million investment in fibre connections in the many places that were bereft of it and have been for many years. It is why we need a water infrastructure throughout the country and the continued process of road building. None of these things was discussed in an Irish context at Davos, but they all are part of the general response in terms of how to get the economy growing, together with exports, the provision of services, proper banking systems and services, and continued investment in the country. In respect of investment, that pipeline remains very strong. It is why the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, is in America talking to small exporting companies from Ireland which already employ 80,000 American people across 50 states. We need to see more of this, which requires growth at home. That growth will deal with the issue of poverty of opportunity for children and families.

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