Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Minister of State is handed a script to read out in response to these Commencement matters but, with respect, I request an answer as to why it has taken the Government seven months to decide to appoint new staff. Moreover, why has that decision been taken to appoint just two additional staff given Limerick City and County Council requested a team of ten, given it has been well acknowledged that the council, like so many other councils, is way behind its targets and given it has also been acknowledged that the Government is way behind its targets? Indeed, its target this year for social and affordable housing was 9,200 homes but at the halfway point it had delivered just 1,966. Similarly, its target for affordable housing was 2,100 but it had reached fewer than 700 by the halfway point of the year.

With the crisis getting worse month by month, how can the Minister of State explain the seven-month delay in appointing essential staff for the council, and where does this leave the people of Limerick, who are already in despair at the housing crisis? Are we looking at a future of adult children living adult lives in their parents' homes? Is that the best the Government can offer?