Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Enormous and ongoing deficits are never a good thing, we can agree on that. The thinking of the Government and the officials in the Department of Finance seems to be concentrating on getting the deficit down as quickly as we can, regardless of the pressing public investment demands and requirements. Given the times we are in, the propitious borrowing environment and the huge gap in housing supply, I am with the ESRI when it states the Government should double spending on housing supply, financed by a small, ongoing deficit of 1.5% of GDP on an ongoing basis. What is the Minister's response to the position of the ESRI?

See this speech in context