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

-----because every time a proposal comes for a mixed type of housing, be it private, public or whatever, Sinn Féin opposes it on the grounds it has to be 100% public on public lands and nothing else. Everything else gets pushed out. I do not know how Sinn Féin thinks we will get houses built without builders or finance. The Government is putting up €4 billion but we will also need private sector finance. We will need public housing and we are committed to 12,000 social houses next year, of which 9,000 will be direct builds. We believe there is a need for private sector rental as well. Sinn Féin seems to oppose and undermine anything to do with small landlords or whatever. It undermines the whole area of private finance because it does not think it is a viable proposition and it should be taken out of the housing market. Sinn Féin goes on with all this sloganeering and politicking in respect of housing.

What the Government is saying is we need all types. We need social housing, affordable housing, private housing and new models like cost rental. Above all, we need supply. Supply, supply, supply is key and we are committed to doing that under the Housing for All strategy. As Deputy McDonald acknowledged, Covid-19 hit house construction in 2020 and 2021 but some positive news from it is the number of commencements in 2021 - 31,000 of them - as well as the fact that the industry itself has come back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of capacity and skills and that apprenticeships in construction-related trades are up 40% in terms of the numbers taking on apprenticeships.

We are working on all fronts to deliver more housing because we need more supply.

See this speech in context