Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----the greatest of respect. Every single attack I have made in respect of the Minister has been on what I believe to be his track record. We can, however, deal with that as we go. What nobody can accuse me of is being a bully. Let me also correct the Minister. The Dáil Committee on Housing and Homelessness made a specific proposal. It suggested the building of 10,000 real social housing units, owned by approved housing bodies and local authorities, every year for five years. That is not what is in the Minister's plan. That is not what is there and 8,000 real social houses will not be delivered this year because 2,000 of those will be leased from the private sector for a period.

That is fine. It is the policy of the Minister but it is not what the Dáil Committee on Housing and Homelessness recommended unanimously. Similarly, the figure of 10,000 will not be reached next year because I assume there will be approximately 2,000 leases. While I welcome each of those houses, that is nowhere close to what is required. The interesting point in the Minister's presentation is he has still not given us any greater clarity on genuine targets for delivering affordable rental or affordable purchase. The schemes have been renamed but not the targets. I appeal again to Fianna Fáil. We are open to compromise and have from now until the vote next Thursday to work on that. I am more than happy to sit down and agree figures if that is what can be done to progress a reasonable and sensible proposal for legislative change.

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