Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Pringle for sharing time. I got a copy of the housing actions report the acting Minister urged us all to read in his contribution. I ran to the office to print it and browse through it. Ironically, it is entitled Laying the Foundations - Housing Action Report. The last thing done by this Government was laying the foundations and actually building social and affordable housing because all the emphasis has been on acquiring, leasing, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, the housing assistance payment, HAP, etc. That has been well debated in this Chamber. On the first page the Minister outlines five key actions he took, the first of which is action to stimulate the private sector to deliver more housing, not to build and give councils or housing agencies money to do it but to stimulate private developers. As my colleague, Deputy Barry, who spoke earlier said, the private developers have no interest in providing social or affordable housing and they have gone on strike because the profit is not big enough. That will be confirmed by any commentator on the construction scene.

The other thing the Minister urged us to do when he spoke on the previous occasion was to have a grown up conversation about the Constitution. Why did it take the Minister five years to tell us that the Constitution was an impediment-----

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