Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One could ask whether we are going to repeat the same mistakes again. I will not refer to short-term political advantage as the electorate has copped on but the question is whether we will seek to devise a short-term economic model incorrectly manufactured by a property boom. I previously called for the Minister of State with responsibility for housing to come to the House. We urgently need a thorough debate, not on the construction industry but on housing for families and individuals. We must have a debate on how we as a nation want to house people, not how we want to grow an industry or turn property developers into millionaires. We must examine what is our policy on housing people. The Government has come up with a strategy and the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, is the lead Minister. We must have a debate on the property market and how we propose to deal with the housing crisis. I would be frightened if we were to cheer-lead ourselves into another boom and bust property cycle which might give us two or three years of false security but lead us back to the very same crisis that we experienced during the so-called Celtic tiger. Such a debate is urgently required and I ask the Leader to try to facilitate it at his convenience.