Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It might matter to the Deputy, but what about the person who is going into that home? We are trying to have a debate and I am giving the Deputy facts with which he is clearly uncomfortable. He does not like when I challenge the ideologies that he wraps around housing.

If the local authority is using private plumbers and bricklayers and small to medium-sized construction companies to deliver more local houses, it does not matter to the person who is moving into one of those houses as to who built it. I can see that with the progress that has been made on the northside of Dublin alone. I can see the progress that is on the way.

As for the Deputy's idea that the State should build capacity to do what we are talking about, I must inform him that this is the kind of project it would take years to complete and that would have local authorities all competing against each other. Our local authorities are building more homes, and we need to continue to support them in doing that.

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