Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's response to many of the issues, although I do not agree with all he said. I stated earlier that I accept there must be a public and private mix in addressing the large housing crisis. This Dáil more than any that has gone before it has a responsibility to learn from the past. I have no problem accepting that. The Minister of State and his Government are relying solely on the advice of an independent group made up, I presume, of stakeholders in the industry. I am not aware of who exactly comprised that review group. The Government has relied on the recommendation to reduce the social element of Part V from 20% to 10% but that is a grave mistake as it disregards the views and knowledge that exists not only on this side of the House but on the Government benches as well. As the Minister of State has correctly stated, we are all in the same boat in terms of our responsibility to those who give us the privilege to represent them. We have all been inundated with representations from people in our constituencies who are at their wit's end because of the unfortunate prospect of not having a home or being in a position to receive accommodation from the local authority charged with the responsibility for it by the Government. That is a source of great disappointment to me.

There are inquiries taking place in other parts of this building, with people giving open, frank and honest responses to questions. An exercise for Members in this House is to learn from what went before. One lesson is not to take at face value advice that might appear sound. I implore the Minister of State not to be led by some review group with faceless people, as far as I am concerned, because I do not know who they were. The Government should accept the best will and intention of those on this side of the House and on the Government benches who believe we must learn from the mistakes of the past and adhere to a 20% social dividend rather than a 10% portion.

See this speech in context