Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

That sounds good but it is just not what is happening on the ground. We are going to have to blow this fantasy out of the water. As I have pointed out on several occasions, zero council houses were built last year in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. We just got the figures. Next year, five will be built. There is a lot of construction going on in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. The Minister should drive out there to have a look. There are SHDs going up all over the place. These are private build-to-rent developments that will be rented for €2,200 a month if one is lucky. There is an opportunity cost here, if one likes, to use economic jargon. If all the construction workers are building unaffordable profit-driven developments, they are not building council houses. The facts are clear on the ground. The council is delivering nothing. The Minister referred to AHBs. Who is building for the AHBs? It is the same property investors and they are charging a fortune. This is nonsense. We need to stop these people wrecking our market and start building affordable and public housing.

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