Feargal Quinn (Independent)

The builders seem to have won once again. There is a price for letting builders of the hook. However, we can be sure they will not pay the price. The customers will pay, as they have always done. I would be delighted if the Minister corrects me.

This shabby little Bill will stand as a monument to those who must be among the greatest failures of what was the Celtic tiger – I hope it will continue as such. We have passed through a period of unprecedented and unparalleled prosperity but ended up with a greater housing problem than ever before. Most of the economic challenges faced today have their roots in the failure to address the housing problem.

Part of that failure is the unsustainable sprawl that has turned most of the eastern part of the country into a dormitory for Dublin, is to be found every day on our roads where people spend hours travelling unnecessarily long distances to and from work, and is the pressure that house prices put on many women to go out to work when, if given the chance, they would look after their families and homes. None of it is the inevitable consequence of economic progress. All of it is due to wrong strategies, policies and choices along the way. The losers are clear just as the winners are. The winners will be able to enjoy an even better Christmas when this Bill is out of the way and rushed through this week as appears to be the intention.