Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. Obviously, I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has not spoken to IDA Ireland about this matter. There is an opportunity to use some of this landbank. I do not need to explain to the Minister of State the current situation regarding housing. We are all aware of what is happening. At constituency clinics, Deputies are inundated with questions on the matter. The Taoiseach said this morning that every time he has a meeting with a company, a key issue that arises is the lack of affordable housing for people coming here looking for jobs. Some 10,000 people across the State are homeless and hundreds of thousands of people are paying rents they cannot afford. Rents are at an all-time high. Hundreds of thousands of others have their hopes of buying or renting homes dashed because of house price increases.

Based on these well-worn statistics and considering that IDA Ireland has more than 2,700 acres lying vacant, would it not be fair and just to carry out an audit to see if some of this land could be used for housing or essential services? I agree that foreign direct investment is a very important part of our economy and I fully support it, but so too is housing our people.

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