Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be seeking a briefing on the review of the NDP and where it stands. The Minister mentioned housing, which is one of the basic infrastructures needed across Galway, Connemara and the State. I have to ask the Minister, because this was a hugely important issue during the general election campaign, about this number of 40,000 homes. The Deputy was Minister for Finance at the time. I am aware that he is now Minister for public expenditure. It is my understanding that he was advised on 6 November that the target of 40,000 homes would not be reached, but the Government parties continued to put that out to the public. This has a real-life impact on people. The housing crisis and homelessness are having a real-life disastrous impact on so many people. It is really serious to not have full transparency in that regard. Did the Minister bury this matter? What did he do with the information? Why was he not transparent about it? Who else in the Government did he tell? These are crucially important things the people should know.

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