Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is not personal, but the reality is there is chaos in every aspect of housing currently. In fairness, no Minister can click his or her fingers and build houses overnight. Sadly, the figures that have come out over the past two years have been lies and damned lies. I have a problem with the people who gave the Minister those figures because they have felt no repercussions for those false figures relating to house builds, especially social houses. Anyone who checked those numbers knows there are major discrepancies. Figures and words were twisted, including those relating to turnkey properties. There are words like "brownfield" and "greenfield", but at the end of the day it is about what has been built and how many families have gone into those houses.

We can speak of affordable housing, social housing, low-cost renting and people trying to buy council houses or get a loan from councils. Unfortunately, the process has been a shambles from beginning to end. The Minister has advisers, so where are they in all of this? The person at the top must call the shots and no one should keep getting a salary if there is no result. These people gave the Minister those figures and statistics, which have basically embarrassed him through the years. The captain of the ship must replace some staff if they are not pulling their weight. Unfortunately, these people are getting the same wages regardless of whether houses are built. Throughout this country and especially in the cities, people are crying out for houses. As I said, the houses will not come overnight, but unless the Minister changes the system inside, the cover-ups and false statistics, he will be in real trouble.

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