Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Murphy that the provision of good-quality, affordable housing to individuals and families is one of the biggest challenges facing Irish society. The allocation of €2.2 billion over the next three years is one of the basic social dividends from the budget. As I have said previously, it takes some time to build houses. The problem with the current housing market, which needs to be addressed as quickly as possible, is that no social housing has been built really since 2002. For reasons I do not fully understand, the then Government decided to move away from any provision of social housing by local authorities.

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