Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his answer. The first thing that needs to be realised is that we need to get away the cycle of boom and bang. That is why people are reluctant to go into apprenticeships. While the Minister, Deputy Harris, is bringing stuff forward, and I welcome that, there does not seem to be a lot of movement in the wet trades.

The other side of it is that there seems to be a ferocious focus on cities. If one were to look at the price of land in the smaller towns or villages, one would get better value for money. We also need to be sure about the likes of procurement. What seems to happen in this country is that one big guy applies for permission for 500 or 600 houses. Many smaller builders would not have the capital to be in that league but would be well capable of building four or five houses. Much makes more and the Government should give those small builders the opportunity to do that, as well as trying to bring older houses in rural areas back into use and giving incentives for same.

If the Tánaiste does not knuckle down over the next six months to tackle the different problems I have highlighted, having looked at the industry, they will never be solved and we will never get to our target of 40,000 houses. We must sort out the planning issues and all the other issues I have highlighted because they are causing problems and logjams in the housing industry.

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