Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not saying that people who need affordable housing have massive savings. That is why we are supporting them. That is the reason we put €150 million into the help-to-buy scheme which the Deputy refuses to support and which she attacks whenever she gets a chance. We want to give people support to enable them to buy homes. Approximately €760 million was provided in the budget for affordable housing, there was €110 million in new measures towards a shared equity scheme, €150 million for the help-to-buy scheme, €205 million for the Land Development Agency, LDA, €210 million for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme and €50 million for the serviced sites fund. That is a comprehensive range of measures.

The bottom line is that, ideologically, the Deputy is not very taken by affordable housing. If she is sincere, I wish to work with other parties in the House. For example, is it not time we got on with the Oscar Traynor Road site, or do we want to put it back for another five years and just come to the House with a load of rhetoric about people waiting to get houses at affordable prices? That is what will happen. The Deputy continues to refuse and vote against schemes throughout the country because they do not fit her ideological frame. With respect, we have gone beyond ideology in the housing crisis. We all cannot have it our own way in terms of the ideal model. The Government is prepared to support social housing at an unprecedented level, as well as affordable housing and cost rental. It is time others worked with us in that regard.

See this speech in context