Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Government will start to play its part in the delivery of housing, especially affordable housing that people can actually live in. The reality is that we have seen for a long number of years with previous Governments and this Government a failure to do that. That is why we are in the situation we are in. We are where we are because of political decisions. It is simply not good enough. I hope the Government will be ambitious and will try to deliver affordable housing so that people can live in the houses but at the moment that is not a reality.

There is also the problem of getting value for money for the taxpayer. We have seen serious problems with bid rigging. Some senior officials have mentioned that as well. Is there merit in having a state-led construction company that can build, sell at cost, create jobs and compete with private developers to drive prices down? That is what we need. We need far greater supply but it must be affordable for people so that people can live in those houses.

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