Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is an answer but it does not answer my questions. The ESRI report was with the Minister's Department before the budget last year and an early draft was with the Department as early as June last year. This report makes it clear that there is need to increase housing targets. Sinn Féin has spent the last four years warning that housing targets were too low. Finally the expertise of the ESRI was sought to examine the capital investment, as the Minister has said. The report states that existing targets for housing supply understate the need and concludes that higher output will be needed. Despite having this information, which the Minister commissioned, the Minister announced a budget that provided no additional funding for housing. Did the Minister share that information with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage before budget day? Why did the Government choose not to act on that information?

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