Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will always consider any amendment put forward by the Senator. Indeed, these amendments were considered and debated when they were proposed by his colleagues in the Dáil a number of weeks ago. The context of this discussion, which is key, is the real purpose of this fund. The point I am about to make might provide an element of reassurance to the Senator. Regrettably, we have seen in the past that at times of economic difficulty that we faced into in stark terms, including around the period when I first entered electoral politics, major infrastructural and housing programmes that were planned and desperately needed were, sadly, left open and vulnerable to the economic cycle in such a way that we developed a stop-start approach. The year Senator Kyne was elected to this House and I entered the Dáil, we saw fewer than 5,000 homes built. Last year, more than 32,000 homes were built, including the largest investment in social homes since long before many of us in this Chamber were born.

The start-stop approach to development also impacted on our capacity to deliver infrastructure as skills and competencies in business were lost during economic downturns and proved difficult to replace when economic conditions improved. We are all aware of the generation of skilled tradespeople who simply had to leave this jurisdiction many years ago, whether for Australia, Canada or elsewhere, because there was no work here. Whatever else we can say about the economy, we certainly can say there is good, well-paid work available at the moment. There are 2.71 million people at work today, which is more than the number who lived in this jurisdiction in the 1950s.

Crucially, this fund can be deployed to smoothen the investment cycle and support capital projects, including housing development. As I said in response to the previous amendment, we have massively increased capital expenditure from €4.5 billion to its current levels. We absolutely must ensure we can continue to maintain that capital expenditure through the years, regardless of what happens. A point I underline, which I hope the Senator will take in the spirit it is offered, is that housing will be one of the areas that benefits from the establishment of this fund. The second point is that we should remember the role of the fund, as I have laid out, in terms of using windfall tax resources in a way that will ensure we have the money to continue that capital expenditure as we go forward. The Government is quite clear in the legislation on how that can be achieved. That is not to take away in any measure from the very clear and serious investment in housing that is going on at record levels at the moment under the Government. It is clear that the existing expenditure levels are where the targeted focus must be. We must allow these two funds to do their job, knowing full well they will be there if we need to fill the gap, in addition to what is already being done by way of existing, planned-for capital expenditure.