Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have no choice but to do everything we can to get people into accommodation other than hotels, hubs or the streets. Taken as a whole, 80% of Rebuilding Ireland is dependent on HAP, RAS and leasing and that is the problem. We do not know how much it will cost but some estimates are for between €20 billion and €30 billion in current expenditure over a 30-year period, for which we would get nothing. One estimate is for €1.7 billion per year which, over the period of a home mortgage of 30 years, would be some €30 billion. If we built homes, the upfront costs would be greater and we would need capital, which links to the argument about rainy day funds and strategic investment funds, but ultimately we would have an asset and revenue would be coming back in.

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