Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Housing is the single biggest social issue facing this country. We all accept that we are running an extraordinary deficit in an extraordinary time at the moment. It would be remiss of all of us not to understand and accept that the Government has made a considerable investment to keep people safe, keep businesses open and keep people close to their employment at this unprecedentedly difficult time. We acknowledge that, relatively speaking, the investment in housing is significant compared to previous years and situations. However, it is nowhere near enough to deal with the underlying problems we have at the moment. I agree with the ESRI that running a relatively small deficit on a mid-term and ongoing basis in order to allow us to invest in critical social infrastructure such as housing is going to be important not only from a social perspective but also from the point of view of productivity and competitiveness. The Minister would acknowledge that the likes of IBEC and the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland have identified it as a key bottleneck and an issue we need to address. If we need to borrow and can do it sustainably and sensibly, we should do it.

See this speech in context