Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Certainly, there is no urgency in the approach of this Government. The funding of social housing has been addressed many times by Deputy Ellis. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, was being disingenuous last night when he used the usual lazy refrain of "fantasy economics". I suggest that for many families, his brand of economics is nightmare economics. We have made one proposal that involves the use of the strategic investment fund for housing. We have specifically and consistently identified that €1 billion needs to be invested as a matter of urgency if we are to begin addressing this crisis. We reckon that would fund approximately 6,600 housing units. If this issue had been seen as a real priority and as a matter of real urgency, that €1 billion would have produced many more housing units.

See this speech in context