Joe Conway (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the main crises in the economy and in our social life at present is the undoubted problem with putting roofs over the heads of our young people, the so-called housing crisis that pervades this land. We in Leinster House are often accused, left, right and centre, of living in a rarefied atmosphere and being disconnected from the realities of life in the country. In an effort to mitigate that, I decided in the past week to pay a couple of visits to sites where houses are being built to connect with the people who are building and clients who hope to occupy these houses.

In two cases, plumbers who were trying to get water and central heating connected asked me when on earth the Government was going to have the plumbing industry somehow regulated and connected with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. Just about anybody can have a go at plumbing or putting down a central heating unit in a house, often with fairly disastrous effects. From the climate change and carbon footprint perspectives alone, incorrectly installed plumbing and heating have a deleterious effect. Conscious of that, I ask the ever-facilitating and genial Leader to invite the Minister for housing to the House to discuss this urgent issue. It needs to be settled once and for all.

If I may, even though she is sitting close to me, I would not like to have it considered that I am at one with Senator Keogan on tariffs or, indeed, on the ineffectual use of FDI. Even the most successful countries have used FDI to their advantage, notwithstanding probably the most obvious example, the United States itself. Mr. Wilmshurst and the others from the embassy would know British history better than me but in 1903, Joseph Chamberlain undertook the empire's tariffs experiment, and we all know that did not end well. I hope Mr. Trump is taking note.