Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I do not have, and what I cannot cut across are the planning conditions, but I will certainly inquire with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and ask that we revert to the Deputy on the issue. I thank him for highlighting it.

On Deputy Murphy's question, the issue of housing was raised at the competitiveness summit and the issue of housing is raised in all commentary and engagements I have with people making decisions to invest and grow their business in Ireland. There is of course the supply of housing, water infrastructure and energy infrastructure. They are the three big pieces of infrastructure about which I hear consistently from the people of Ireland, those who do business in Ireland and those who wish to do business in Ireland. Those are key as we move forward. That is why we took a decision in the budget to allocate €3 billion worth of money from the sale of AIB bank shares into those three areas, of which €1.25 billion is to be provided to the Land Development Agency to provide thousands more homes.

Personally, I believe that the generation that suffered most from the financial mismanagement of this country in the past, should now at least see the benefit from the sale of those shares.

We have these debates back and forth, as we should because housing is a major challenge. However, we already have an agency, the Land Development Agency, delivering homes on public lands. Indeed, I was with Deputy Boyd Barrett in his own constituency recently, where we saw Shanganagh Castle. We will see the provision of 600 homes there, many of which are now in place. That agency has huge potential to do much more. That is why we decided to put more money into it.

There is a broader question as we continue into future governments and future Oireachtais around its remit and whether that can be further expanded. The chief executive certainly said on that occasion that a number of projects are now being developed, providing housing developments using public land. This Government is absolutely determined to use all the levers, public, private, cost rental, social and affordable, everything we possibly can, to meet the variety of housing needs of people. We have huge housing challenges, of that there is no doubt. However, the level of State intervention in the housing market is now at an unprecedented level, as it should be, as we try to respond to this issue.

In regard to Deputy Ó Murchú's question, I remember visiting Dundalk Grammar School with him previously. I am not aware of the details of the dispute in question. I will leave that to be resolved locally. However, I know the students of Dundalk Grammar School to be of excellent calibre. I enjoyed taking questions from many of them not that long ago. In regard to the issue of pharma and the importance of that sector to the north east and to County Louth from an investment and jobs point of view, we are aware of this and keen to continue to work on it. IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are continuing to monitor carefully the situations and some of the developments the Deputy mentioned. I am happy to keep in touch on the issue.

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