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

Right now, as I speak, approximately 26,000 social homes are at various different stages of construction in the pipeline. That is because the State, through Housing for All, has a multiannual, fully funded plan that will invest €5 billion in housing this year. Deputy Ó Broin likes to play ducks and drakes with facts. He knows that the reason social housing waiting lists have gone up slightly is that we broadened the eligibility criteria and increased the income bands to allow more people to apply for social homes, something the Deputy has been calling for. If we broaden the eligibility criteria, does he expect to see a decrease in the number of people applying for social homes? The Deputy likes to twist the facts on that. That is fine. This year, we will deliver more new social homes than we have ever done before. We have a very strong pipeline-----

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