Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am thinking of the many people in my constituency who have approached me about the issue of affordable housing, some of whom may be tuning into this debate this afternoon.

They can see Opposition spokesperson after Opposition spokesperson getting angrier than one another during their slots, which are the right length for Facebook, in order to get a video. They gesticulate at the Minister and give him 50 seconds to answer five questions, 11 seconds to answer two or 30 seconds to answer four questions although they do not want the answers. The people who do want the answers are the people in my constituency who want affordable housing. The people who want the answers are councillors around the country who want the tools to vote in favour of the schemes their officials put before them. The Minister has not had the time to answer the questions because he has not been given it.

Deputy O'Reilly asked the Minister where the houses were six months into his first term. I imagine that, had the Minister started building a house himself when he was elected, it would not yet be complete. I will tell the Deputy what the Minister has done. The single-stage approval process for councils for developments up to €6 million gives every council in the country permission to start building on sites. Fingal County Council has confirmed that it is already preparing for work on five sites in the constituency of the Minister and Deputy O'Reilly. In Dublin City Council's jurisdiction, sites are being prepared in my own area of Ballymun.

The affordability element is also key. We have published the general scheme of an affordable housing Bill that has three components. These are public housing on public land and affordable housing, the shared equity scheme and the cost-rental scheme. These are three answers, three tools and three ways to deliver mixed-tenure and mixed-income developments. They are three reasons for every councillor to vote in favour of development on sites that come before them.

To the Opposition I say that, while it is important to highlight the problem, this Government is about delivering housing. It is in this business for one reason only. It is not to line a developer's pocket or to increase the share price of a construction company. That is not why I am in politics and it is not why Deputies Murnane O'Connor, Devlin and Flaherty and the Minister are in office. We are in office to build homes for the people who contact us and who need to live in those homes. We are going to do it and we are going to give people the answers they have been seeking for more than ten years.

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