Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I love the way Sinn Féin loves to laugh and joke about the issue of housing. It proposed in the general election that if it was elected to government, and thank God we were spared that, it would establish a new office to bring forward all of the different structures to break down silos. That is what Sinn Féin proposed. The Housing Commission proposed that, and so did the Government. When we got together after the election and formed our programme for Government, we said we would take on board what seemed like a sensible idea, to second people, bring in expertise, and try to get homebuilding accelerated. That is a good idea. On Tuesday at Cabinet, we agreed to establish that office, something very similar to what Sinn Féin wanted on page 98.

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