Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is talking about supply. Demand is approximately 30,000. Others estimate it as 40,000. We know the output is in the region of 16,000, so it is about 50% of what is needed. The European Commission in its report will talk about the supply responses being insufficient. It talks about this as the major risk to the Irish economy. While there may be other potential risks, this is a huge risk at this time. It was echoed by Mr. Mario Draghi yesterday to my colleague Mr. Matt Carthy, MEP, in the European Parliament that there is a serious danger to the Irish economy because of the housing issue.

While some of the initiatives the Minister outlined are welcome, some of them will not have the desired effect. For example, the site levy is not enough. What we need to do is ensure there is additional capital to build the houses. Given that we know this is a major economic risk to Ireland, why is the Minister still not prepared to use the €1.4 billion which is available in this budget to construct the houses, meet the demand, ensure there is no wage pressure on businesses, to make sure those in emergency accommodation have a roof over their heads and to deal with the major macroeconomic risks identified by the Commission, the Department of Finance, the ECB and many other economists?

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