Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We cannot just move on from that with a click of our fingers or wish it away. What we can do is rebalance that equation over time. If we did that, we would then free up more houses for the private market as well, for cost rental and so on. We can have all the politics about it and I respect people's views and different perspectives, but I keep coming back to the point that we need to get supply up. Twenty thousand houses are not going to solve our housing crisis. Before that it was even lower. There is no question that Covid affected it in 2020 and 2021. Without housing supply, however, we are not going to resolve the issues around housing. We need to give people access to a whole range of options in terms of owning and renting homes and apartments. That involves cost rental and affordable housing. The State has allocated €4 billion per annum for the next ten years.

See this speech in context