Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister stated that local authorities are delivering more housing. No, they are not. They are not building anything at all. They are commissioning private construction. I accept that is better than doing nothing when we do not have the capacity, but they are not actually building anything themselves, given that the State does not have any capacity.

I wish the Minister would not mischaracterise me, as what I am arguing is that this is not enough. The Minister can play politics if he wants, but I am saying that it is not enough and that the housing crisis is the largest example - a catastrophic one - of market failure. That is not a criticism of these people - I could do that on another day - but a clear statement of fact. They are not going to do it. They do not have the capacity and it is not their business to produce not-for-profit low-cost housing. That is not what they do. We need to build up our own capacity. That means direct capacity, with the State having its own ability to build things.

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