Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are 100,000 people on the live register who were involved in the construction industry, including plasterers, block-layers, chippies, tillers, roofers and everything else. We want these people to have an opportunity to get back into the world of work. We want families, young people and those starting on the housing ladder get top-quality housing at affordable prices, not like what we had before and which unfortunately we have discovered in various parts of the country. Today the Government will launch a strategy in this regard. Yesterday, as a further indication of where Government stands on this, €50 million was allocated to the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with responsibility for housing to address homelessness, where a further €10 million is put in, with €20 million for direct construction and €20 million to bring back a further number of houses that are empty and boarded up, and could make very good homes. That will bring the figure involved to 1,800. This is an issue that concerns families, people, jobs, employment and opportunity. It is not about contractors or developers. It is not about greed or bankers.

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