Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure if there are any specific plans for the Meelick site but I will let the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, know that the Deputy has raised the matter and has some suggestions as to how it could be put into use for the benefit of the community. I am sure he will want to consider them. It is the Government's policy to phase out direct provision and it has committed to doing so but we are realistic that it will take quite some time. We have a housing shortage in this country and there is a real difficulty with capacity in the construction centre which is an issue in building not only the houses we need, but also the public infrastructure we need. There are real limitations in that regard. There is going to be a difficulty.

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