Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have no problem with Members stating that it is not enough or that they want more. That is fine. We can all agree with that, but I ask them not to continue to say it is not happening. We have to be very clear about that. The accusation is also made that the Government is relying solely on the private sector but that is not true either. What is true is that in the early stages of Rebuilding Ireland, the Government was the first to accept we had to work with the private sector because we wanted houses last year, this year and next year. While we build our new houses, we are working with the private sector and will buy houses from it under turn-key and build-to-order and we will rent houses through HAP because people need homes now. If we had the philosophy of the Members opposite, people in need of houses today would not be allowed to have a housing assistance payment and would be left sitting on the side of the road waiting for them to build all of the houses. No matter who builds them, it is not possible to build 50,000 or 60,000 in one week or one year. It takes a couple of years to do it. If we did not work with the private sector, people would not have homes.

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