Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In France, 25% of social housing is provided through the private sector. In Belgium, that figure is 20%. In Spain, it is 30%. We are reducing it to 10% from 20%. We are going from four or fewer units to nine or fewer units. We are benefiting one group of people, namely, developers. We need them to build houses, but not at the expense of the taxpayer because of poor public policy.

The lobbyists have won. The Part V review is wrong. Part V could have been tidied up and the legal constraints raised by Cork and Dún Laoghaire could have been addressed. They are being addressed in this Bill, but the way the overall benefit - social housing provision - is being treated is wrong. According to the Minister of State, we have an ambitious target of 4,000 units. We should at least triple that. Under his targets, we will not even achieve 4,000 units between now and 2020.