Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----but far be it for me to be making flippant remarks given the seriousness of the situation.

The emergency and the urgency of the crisis were meant to be resolved in the short term with the provision of modular units.

This time last year 500 rapid-build modular units were promised, of which only 22 have been built. At Question Time this week I asked the Minister to make us aware of the problems in order that we could help to make sure this would not happen again and that the matter would be resolved, whatever the logjams.

On the comment the Tánaiste made on what the Governor of the Central Bank had said yesterday, of course, the rules needed to be changed. They were cumbersome, complicated and downright unfair. However, the problem of supply cannot be solved in isolation, but the measures announced by the Central Bank and the help-to-buy scheme, allied with other measures, would have the desired effect. Will the Tánaiste and the Government consider real supply initiatives that would help and work hand in glove with the announcements made by the Central Bank and the Government such as reducing development levies and revamping certification costs, without compromising standards, as has happened in the United Kingdom, including the North where construction costs are up to five times lower than down here? Will the Government consider VAT reductions? Will it allow the credit unions into the market to allow the provision of competitive finance to be at the heart of the mortgage market?

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