Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I respect the Minister of State but he must have been listening to the Tánaiste at his Ard-Fheis last weekend. In the past five years, there has been a complete failure by the Government to fund local authorities building houses. In 2016, there were only 320 local authority new builds; in 2017, there were 1,014 new builds; in 2018, 2,022 new builds; in 2019, 2,271 new builds; in 2020, only 2,300 new builds; in 2021 so far, there have been 1,995. The Tánaiste at the Ard-Fheis last weekend must have been in cloud cuckoo land to think he could pluck 40,000 a year out of the sky. This has not been happening. Fine Gael has been in government for ten years and nothing is happening. It was supported by Fianna Fáil in the so-called confidence and supply agreement for five years. Now Fianna Fáil promises to build 9,500 social houses per year. The spin does not get it done. We are not getting houses built. We were to build them in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and everything else. Now it is all spin and veneer and houses are not being built for people.

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