Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. As everybody has described, this is a serious issue that has to be addressed. Unfortunately, much of the commentary and debate, in particular in political circles and in these Houses, has been below the belt. I join with Senator Buttimer in condemning the comments of Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I refer to his personal attack on the Minister. I will pick up on the word "elite". It is not to do with where one is from. Elite is to do with a mindset. It was the mindset of the Galway tent, as Senator McFadden said. It is a mindset that says jobs for the boys. That has put our country the way it is today. Let us think about language. When we talk about housing, are we advancing the debate or are we just finger-pointing for headlines?

Other groups that get trotted out and abused as if they are pariahs in society are landlords and builders. Truth be told, they are key to delivering solutions and they are part of giving those solutions. That is no way to deal with anybody when we are looking for their bona fides and their co-operation. There needs to be more maturity in the debate around housing. I have limited time but I have a couple of points. Some will echo previous comments. I have no doubt that the Minister is serious about ramping up our social housing programme. This year alone the capital budget to local authorities for building social housing has gone from €307 million to €638 million. That is a massive sum of money.

Why are the houses not being built? I know the Minister met the chief executive of each of the local authorities and they have been told about this money. When it is broken down, are they acquiring expertise and in-house knowledge? We know they were depleted because social housing building had stopped and the local authorities lost staff etc. Are they acquiring this expertise? Are they acquiring land?

If any politician on a local authority wants to make a constructive input into the housing crisis, he or she would want to start by asking the chief executive of his or her local authority what that chief executive is doing with this money. How is the local authority delivering on targets? The Minister is not going to build the houses himself, notwithstanding all the commentary, nor is the Government. The local authorities are housing authorities and it is their statutory obligation and responsibility to be building social houses. If we can get to grips with the social housing deficit, we will go some way towards addressing issues of shortage of supply in private rental accommodation for people who are not social housing candidates. It all has a knock-on affect. The arm of the State that the Minister has the most input into is the local authorities. They are abysmal to tell the truth, notwithstanding targets and what they are about. Why are they not seizing this opportunity and knuckling down to do what is required?

It is apt that this programme is called Rebuilding Ireland. It is so called because the bottom fell out of Ireland, its economy and housebuilding under Fianna Fáil.