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

I belong to a party that, since its foundation, committed itself to the provision of social housing. It cleared the slums in the 1930s from Dublin, Cork and other cities, and has always remained committed to the provision of social housing. That is the party I joined. It is my commitment; it is my philosophy. The Deputy has falsely presented my ideology. My ideology is not the marketplace and it is not to commoditise housing. I have just said we are committed to providing unprecedented funding to try to create the largest social housing programme in the history of the State. That is what our objective is as a Government. In addition to that, we are providing affordable housing for people who aspire to buy their homes. We will support them through the State supporting it through a variety of initiatives that the Minister has announced. We are also providing the first national cost rental programme, which will provide housing for rent at 25% below the market rate. These are important initiatives for people but to make it all happen, we need more supply. We need to get more builders out there, building more homes and building more apartments, and we need capital to do that. The State will not be able on its own to do it all, and that reality needs to sink in.

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