Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hear what the Deputy is saying about housing. It bothers me deeply that so many young and even not so young people find it so difficult to buy their first home. What gives me great encouragement is that we are now seeing about 400 first-time buyers per week, a really encouraging figure that is the highest since the Celtic tiger period. Because couples are counted as one person and because it does not include those building their own home, that figure is an under estimate. The number of first-time buyers every week is probably way more than 400 but I am using that figure to be on the safe side. A big catch up is ahead of us but we are catching up and that is extremely encouraging.

We are not doing all that badly when it comes to teachers. There are 72,000 teachers in the country up from only 64,000 in 2017 so the numbers are going in the right direction. The starting salary is €41,000, which is much higher than it is in other countries. It certainly compares favourably to most other European countries. It is hard to compete with mineral-rich and oil-rich countries but that is the reality. We will have an engagement with the teachers' unions and the public service unions and are keen to speak to them in the summer and hear their ideas about what we can do as part of the new pay deal, which will succeed the current one come October.

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