Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I am making the point respectfully that I sit here and hear wrongful framing and misrepresentation of my party, our manifesto and the general election. I look forward to debating that. As the leader of Fine Gael, I will debate that with the leader of Sinn Féin in due course. I look forward to that opportunity.

In relation to the amendment before the House, I do not have a huge amount more to add other than to say that I agree on the need for spending reviews. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, does too. It is something I will take away from the points put forward by Deputy O'Callaghan.

While some have been pining for Paschal this evening, and there has been a little bit of "Paschal said this and Paschal said that", Deputy Doherty made the point about budget books being different in the past. I will constructively engage with him and Deputy O'Callaghan on that. Transparency and maximum information for the Oireachtas is a good thing in how we make sense of policy decisions, and each of us doing our job as well.

I accept there are many different views on the VAT measure but, from our perspective, it is a measure around viability and supply. The people will judge, at the end of the term of this Government, whether it has had the desired effect or not. It is about reducing the cost of building apartments. That does have benefits for housing supply. I should say, because a lot has been said about people trying to buy homes, that we are, thankfully, this year seeing the highest number of first-time buyers in this country since 2007. We are living through a housing emergency but that statistic should not be ignored.

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