The Minister will be aware that in Dublin city thousands of people are on the housing list looking for accommodation and on the transfer list out of local authority flats. Will the Minister agree that a miserly 22 houses is insignificant for the Dublin area and that in his own area of Mayo he sanctioned 54 houses in the last year? Will he explain the disproportionate number of houses that went up in Mayo as against 22 for Dublin?

We are not going to have Bulfin's Rambles in Erin on this question. It is a specific question which has been answered and I propose to move on to the next one. I invite Deputy Spring to ask a question.

May I make the point——

I have explained to Deputies that the whole purpose of questions is to look for information and not to have a debate. The information is given on the question asked, not on a whole series of questions that might be relevant but not to the question put to the Minister.

Sir, as a new TD, I seek your guidance. How do I get the Minister to answer why Dublin had only 22 houses built this year while Mayo had 54? Is he arguing that the number of people——

The best guidance I can give the Deputy is that he asks a special question in his own good time as to the position in Dublin.