Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said, there is no evidence to support the theories the Deputy is propounding. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, made a major announcement last week on housing, including social housing. He set out a number of initiatives, which are fully funded by the Government's decision, to deal with this problem. It is a very progressive and far-seeing programme and NAMA is playing its part. The Deputy will have noted that there was a big residential element to yesterday's announcement of the development of Boland's Mill, although I accept that the emphasis is on commercial offices. NAMA is working through its client developers to supply houses and apartments in Dublin. My contention that supply is coming back is supported by a survey conducted by one of the specialists in this area, as published in yesterday's newspapers, which found that there had been 370 multiple starts - groups of houses or apartments - to date in 2014.

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