David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The recently published draft national risk assessment is a comprehensive document. We will not have time to discuss it at length but I would like to focus on one particular aspect, which rightly identifies the supply of housing as one of the most immediate domestic challenges facing the State. Sinn Féin acknowledges that there is no easy-fix solution. Unfortunately, we are dealing with legacy issues of past Fianna Fáil Governments and the previous Fine Gael-Labour Government, which failed in terms of housing, and the absolute determination of the more conservative parties to stop building social housing and outsource it to the private sector. The reality is that, by any yardstick, this Government has failed in the context of housing. The Minister was asked about that earlier and he became very defensive when discussing the facts. He might be able to throw figures out in terms of some modest improvements in home building but nobody can argue that the Government has not done anything near what is necessary in order to deal with the housing crisis. Will the Taoiseach indicate the additional measures that will be taken by the Government in this regard?

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