Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. Our housing crisis is escalating but we are here to make statements on Rebuilding Ireland. Before there is a stone cast and the usual arguments of who was running the country are thrown, let me draw a line. Do we condemn the son for the sins of the father, imprison the daughter for the mistakes of the mother or cast out the family for the actions of one brother or sister? We do not, so let us start from where we are and not where we began. Let us make this change now for the future.

Fine Gael has been in government for seven years and still it speaks about the decade it inherited. It is almost a decade later and although we hear how great the Government is, let us look at some of the promises. We need delivery on many promises, value for money, help where help is sought and action on the ground for people to see real change. I welcome movements announced in the budget on building houses but I would have preferred the houses promised by the Minister of State a long time ago. He has been in my area a few times where we have we relaunched houses twice or three times.