Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senator Bannon has outlined realistic policies, the implementation of which would make a real difference to people by helping them to buy their first homes. Fine Gael is often accused of not having policies of its own, but we have policies in this area which are realistic and would prove helpful. I hope the Government will adopt some of them.

In 1996, the last full year during which Fine Gael was in office, the average price of a house in Dublin was €88,000. Nationally, the average price of a house was €75,000. Today, the average price is €304,000 in Dublin and €236,000 nationally as outlined in the housing statistics bulletin.