Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)

-----and he is yet to answer my question on when the Government will produce its housing plan. It is still delayed.

There is acknowledging the role of the private sector, which we do, and then there is completely and utterly relying on it, which is what the Government does. The Government goes far beyond acknowledging the role of the private sector and goes to the extent of paying private developers to build luxury apartments it has already built. It is quite simply unbelievable. The dominance of private developers in the housing sector keeps housing prices high because, of course, they demand large profits. That is the nature of the private sector. To build affordable housing in Ireland we need to invest in State construction of housing. We need to build up the not-for-profit sector and we need to produce modular homes at scale. Without taking these steps, and acknowledging the Government's approach is not working, nothing will change. I acknowledge that soundbites do not build houses but the Taoiseach needs to acknowledge that the Government is not building enough houses.

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