Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister would surely agree with me that supply is a bigger problem than demand. He might argue that the sort of incentive he mentioned might indirectly increase supply. However, there is a fear now that any Government moneys spent on increasing demand will only facilitate another property boom and the banks. This is difficult to understand, given that the banks would be out of business but for the help they got from the Government and taxpayers. It beggars belief that we cannot tell the banks what to do at any level. We do not seem to be able to encourage them to lend as much as they should without the provision of some sort of subsidy by the Government. The elephant in the room, and the reason supply is so poor, is that the Government no longer builds social housing. Would the Minister agree that the most positive move the Government could make now would be to start a huge social housing programme?

See this speech in context