Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have people who were in negative equity arising from the great recession for donkey's years who took only sheer delight in being able to sell their house when that negative equity receded. That is why we have a huge outflow from our rental market that needs to be addressed. That is why we have had more legislation on rent controls and rent regulations in this House over recent years than we have had in the past 30 years. We have had a number of organisations and local authorities working successfully with us. Wayne Stanley was on the radio this morning telling us not only of the great achievements of Simon in the past year but lauding the fact that the policies are now working. It is certainly not perfect and of course there are still challenges. The Deputy heard Mr. Stanley saying that he has offered us advice on how we should tweak things to make them better. That is the good thing about Rebuilding Ireland. The facts speak for themselves and the number of houses being built for citizens is growing year on year. The plan has been modified to take into account the advice that experts are giving us and we will continue to do so until we reach the stage where we are building 35,000 houses every year to make sure that everybody who wants a home in this country can have one.

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