Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree entirely with Senator Coghlan's remarks with regard to the Exchequer returns, behind which is another figure that is even more promising, namely, the competitiveness figures which indicate that Ireland has become much more competitive. That we allowed our costs to get out of control during the good years caused real difficulty. All of the current statistics in terms of competitiveness indicate we are in a much stronger position for the future. Let us ensure we protect ourselves and do not make the same mistakes we made in the past.

I am looking forward to the debate tonight on homelessness. The real problem in this regard is that we do not have sufficient houses or other types of accommodation in which to house people because over the years we got into the habit of building outwards rather than upwards.

In other countries, there has been a tendency to build much taller buildings. We made mistakes in Ballymun some 30 or 40 years ago. In general terms, though, making better use of land in this way would enable us to support the infrastructure. If we continue building houses outwards rather than upwards, each with its own garden and space, the schools, shops and infrastructure that are necessary to follow through on that policy will also have to be built. Making better use of our land by building upwards rather than outwards is worthy of consideration in the near future.