Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

It is hardly worth my while speaking for two minutes. I will take this opportunity to say that I take umbrage with some of what has been said by backbenchers on the Government side. I remind them that €30 billion was taken out of this economy and out of people's pockets. That is why we are in a position where things have turned around. After every recession we move into a boom, and after every boom we move into a recession. The role of the Government is to ensure the most vulnerable people are protected regardless of what is happening.

The only point I want to make on the capital spending plan is that we have not seen any increase to deal with the humanitarian crisis in housing. It is absolutely incredible that no extra money has been provided. It is very clear that just one in four of the houses that are planned to be built will be social housing. It is evident that 75% of housing will be built by private investors. As a result, I do not think we will see the housing that is needed. We need 130,000 social houses over the next two or three years to try to deal with this issue. In this context, I am reminded of a leaflet that was circulated by Deputy Eric Byrne when he was a member of Dublin City Council. It relates to the crisis that was being faced in the 2008-09 period as we came out of the boom. I agree that there was a crisis at that time. The leaflet mentioned that many people were fortunate enough to own their own homes in Dublin and noted that Deputy Byrne's motion declaring a housing emergency was an attempt to shock the Government into taking action. He has certainly not shocked his own party into taking action to deal with the humanitarian crisis we are now facing. It is a shame that this capital programme is not even attempting to deal with this issue, which is being faced by many people.

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