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

No, I did not. The transcript will show that I am trying to develop the argument while the Minister of State is just stonewalling because he does not want to acknowledge the fundamental point. This is evidence. It is not just someone's opinion or a political policy; it is evidence produced by the Minister of State's Department and what it shows is that there is no problem getting planning permission for housing or apartments, that the number of planning permissions far exceeds the number of completions by a multiple of factors and that planning objections are not a problem. It also says what probably is the problem where it notes that "un-commenced permitted units could indicate the speculative purchasing and holding of land with a view to greater future resale value", that planning permissions may be being acquired to hold as assets and that "acquiring permission for apartment development, rather than housing developments, could be the most attractive option for speculative land holders and thus yield the most amount of value added upon resale." That is what the Minister of State's Department thinks is happening. What does the Minister of State think about that?

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