Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I did not hear what the approach will be. The Tánaiste needs to tell us what that approach will be and what difference it will make. Is he aware that commencements are down by 30% in the past three months? Only yesterday there was a report about a reduction in the number of mortgage approvals, which is not a metric I want to see. What does the Tánaiste mean when he talks about the difference that a whole-of-government approach will make?

A large number of planning permissions are not being activated, which only increases the value of the land without seeing delivery of housing. I believe that on Saturday we will see quite lot of people out on the streets for the Raise the Roof rally that will take place in Dublin, starting in Parnell Square at 1 p.m.. People have been pushed to the point where they have lost hope. Does the Tánaiste regret up making those comments that were so ill-informed and have so angered people who can clearly show they are not true?

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