Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must first reject the Deputy's assertion that in any way, shape or form we deal with housing in a flippant way. We certainly do not. We are very serious about it. This Government is investing more than any previous Government has in housing. We brought forward measures to help in housing. I would also say to the Deputy that while people do travel perhaps the Deputy has read about the housing situation in Australia and the cost of housing and rents in Australia. It is far worse than here. Some 30,000 Irish citizens came back last year as well, which the Deputy neglected to say. Measures we brought forward such as the Affordable Housing Act actually legislated for cost rental. With cost rental we now have thousands of tenancies approved. Cost rental did not exist here and now we have State-backed affordable rents for working people. I remind the Deputy that her party opposed the Affordable Housing Act and voted against it. They voted against that legislation which established the affordable housing fund. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan will be aware of this because in the Fingal area his party also opposed at every given stage one of the largest affordable social housing developments in the country of 1,200 homes in Donabate, 253 of which were social-----

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