Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I would like to be able to add in those figures but from what the Minister of State said, and taking into account voluntary and direct housing, we are still using much less resources for direct housing than in the mid-1980s. The statistics speak for themselves. We need to examine the area of direct housing. There are policy options which can be taken on housing. Even when money is scarce it is a question of choice. This may relate to what Senator Henry said earlier that some of the people on the housing list and some of the homeless do not vote and that perhaps they are not regarded as politically important. We tend to ignore those people. We have a social responsibility to address the housing issue. Other speakers made the point that a different method is used now for compiling a housing list and people are now on housing lists who may not have previously been considered. Approximately 100,000 people on a housing list in post-Celtic tiger Ireland is not good enough.

Much could be done in the area of rented accommodation. I accept that the legislation which has been passed is a small step forward but as a nation we need to change our approach to tenancy and to rented accommodation. If a person won the lotto or won €10 million and invested in a shop or a pub or a business, he would be regarded as an economic hero. If the same person invested that money in providing top quality, regulated rental accommodation, he would be seen as some sort of crook. We need to change our approach to landlords and tenants and advanced legislation should be introduced. We are moving forward in a fair direction in that regard. To coin a phrase, while much may have been done, there is much more to do. The Minister of State should be campaigning more radically. When I was a Member of the Lower House, I often heard him speaking more like a member of the Opposition than a Government backbencher. Now that he has power in his hands, he should look beyond the confines of his office to adopt new approaches towards solving this problem. The solutions can be found with some innovation, vision and political courage.