Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many of us have been concerned that a generation is being left out of reach of home ownership. That is our legacy, unfortunately, of a lost decade, but now in this decade we can rebuild and start building.

When I heard people criticise Eoghan Murphy when he was Minister, some of them were in the ivory tower of being in opposition and never making a decision except to cross the road or come in here and give out, while others just wrote a column, went up on Twitter or went out on the media and made smart comments without having to make a decision. I thank Eoghan Murphy for his tenure and his stewardship in the Department and for his dedication to public life.

As I said, the help-to-buy scheme, the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, freeing up public land and the Land Development Agency are all parts of the tools with which we can tackle this issue. The people of Ireland want houses to be built. They do not care how they are built. They want affordable houses. First-time buyers want to be able to have the sanctity of their own key being turned in the safety of their own home. That is what they are looking for. Local authorities have a critical role to play in that. In my opinion, sometimes some of the local authorities have been found wanting. I hope that we will give more power to the local authorities to ensure that they play a key role in the development of housing.

We all know housing supply must be increased. Senator Malcolm Byrne is correct. Planning reform is necessary. We need people to build. We need good old-fashioned builders who can build. We need to see, as we have seen in Cork City Council, a committed council working to build. I would challenge anybody in this House to come up to Boherboy Road, come over to the Deanrock estate and come over to White Street and see social houses being provided for our fellow citizens.

I commend the Minister on his work and I wish him well.