Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In regard to the Deputy's last point, homeowners have a right to hear what the Government proposes to do in terms of supporting them, particularly those who are under significant financial difficulty because of interest rate hikes. The day to do that will be on budget day in three weeks' time rather than this evening. The Government will do that. In regard to the broader housing question, a lot of self-righteous rhetoric is coming from Deputy McDonald on housing. Her own party's performance in Northern Ireland on social housing is not too impressive. Last year fewer than 1,000 social houses were built in Northern Ireland. The last housing Minister in an Executive was a Sinn Féin housing Minister. Regarding this idea that Sinn Féin has all the answers on housing, look at where it has influence on housing policy and has failed, and continues to fail many people in Northern Ireland. We are setting about the complex task of responding to a growing population where there still are significant housing pressures across a whole range of tenures, from social housing, affordable housing, cost-rental housing, affordable rental or the private housing market. In all of these areas we can only alleviate pressure by increasing supply, which is what we are focusing on doing. We will continue to focus on that and focus most resources on the most vulnerable people. There are far too many homeless individuals and families in Ireland. However, we will continue to focus on ensuring that they get the supports they need while they are homeless but most importantly transition them into social housing as soon as we possibly can by delivering around 12,000 social housing solutions, over 9,000 of which will be new builds this year.

See this speech in context