Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, for the comprehensive overview and I emphasise the issue in Longford is not an affordability one but a sustainability one because we simply cannot get builders to come forward to build houses because it is not commercially viable. For decades to come, we will probably reflect on the Covid-19 period as a watershed moment and it will very much be a case of before and after. One of the biggest shifts certainly has been in lifestyle choices and where people choose to live. If we want to make it easier for couples and families to live in County Longford as it stands we simply do not have the housing stock to fulfil that aspiration. Coming from the same constituency as I do, the Minister of State will comprehend the viability challenge that exists for builders, and if it is a case that we can tweak the existing affordability scheme to foster sustainable house building in counties such as Longford then it will be a major breakthrough in terms of re-energising rural communities and provincial towns.

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