The housing crisis rolls on and its cause is the lack of supply. Would-be developers and building contractors cannot start building in the private sector as they cannot borrow from many of our mainstream banks. The banks will not lend them any money. Would-be builders do not have any money of their own and the only option is to borrow from lending institutions outside the State that are imposing interest rates with double-digit figures. Can the Government intervene and ascertain why banks in this country will not lend to developers or building contractors? That is where we have to start.

The second blockage is the amount of levies and State taxes being demanded from developers and building contractors. Grant Thornton carried out an independent review and found that the levies, taxes and VAT amount to 37% of the cost of building a house. Can the Taoiseach do something to reduce these charges? Local government levies for road, water and sewage infrastructure are very excessive. Can the Taoiseach intervene here? Builders cannot start without a water connection. It is fine paying the full cost of the water connection but the trouble is the levy. It costs builders a lot of money, which must be paid up-front. They cannot pay it up-front. This has to be addressed if we are to resolve the housing crisis. VAT, taxes and PAYE for workers have to be paid in every two months even though the builder will not be paid for the house or any part of it until it is completed and the key is turned in the door. The Minister responsible must deal with these issues.

Previously, the builder or developer was paid in stages when a house was bought from the plans. On the first stage, the builder was paid for the site. A second instalment was paid when the building was at ground-floor level, and a third was paid when the roof was on. The last payment was demanded only when the house was finished. New rules mean the builder now cannot be paid until the house is totally finished. This regulation was put in place to deal with rogue builders but most builders, or 95%, were always fine. The 5% could be dealt with by having quality or standard checks organised by an independent body, established by the Government, or the building control officials in the local authorities. Payment should be allowed at different stages. Builders will not even dream of starting under the present arrangement. They must take all the risk and deal with all the safety regulations and the burden of waiting for money, finishing up with a profit margin of 2% to 3% because of the cost of their loans, if they get them.

From that, I believe Deputy Danny Healy-Rae has built all the houses we need. I should send him a copy of the Minister's programme for house-building. It covers all these areas across five different pillars, ranging from homelessness and social housing to the responsibilities of local authorities, costs for builders or developers, both in towns and rural areas, and money being put up to demonstrate that we can get back to a point where the real problem, the supply of houses, can be dealt with. Part of that was included in the budget yesterday, with a targeted, focused initiative for the provision of new houses.

As the Deputy is aware, the Government made available a €200 million fund so that local authorities could open up sites that are currently inaccessible and where roads or bridges might be needed. There are opportunities for the local authorities, which have the devolved authority in setting the levies for builders, to deal with such applications by payment upfront which is then returned, depending on whether the houses are built on time and to standard. Many variations can be followed through by the local authorities with the builders or developers of houses. There is a full range of initiatives in that regard as well as decisions to be taken. Builders will not build houses unless they make a profit. The cost of some of these was prohibitive in the past and, with the collapse of the construction sector, we are now way behind in the supply that is needed. The decision yesterday on that targeted initiative was for the building of new houses to deal with supply. Yes, there will be arguments that if the VAT level is reduced, a better result will be achieved. The important thing is that there is a timelined initiative in this area. There is a three-year timescale so that builders will have the opportunity to provide houses for those who wish to avail of them and avail of this targeted initiative.

The housing programme is much broader than this. It seeks to deal with the social housing challenge we face, the homeless and the return of voids to a situation where they can be used and lived in by families. This is the most comprehensive housing programme ever produced by any Government, and it is being rolled out now right across the country. The points the Deputy made as to when a deposit might be paid are relevant and when the first, third, fourth or fifth payment will be made. However, the issue has moved on since then. We need a prioritised set of initiatives to make this happen if we are to deal with supply because when that cannot be dealt with, rents and house prices go up, which is not in the interest of those who have an opportunity to get their own houses.

Nothing has moved on and nothing is moving, and that is the truth of it. I am not happy with the Taoiseach's answer because he moved away from the two questions I asked him to deal with. If he keeps doing that, we will finish up where we are with no house being built. The fact of the matter is that developers cannot access money in this country at present and they do not have money of their own because they have been out of business for the past eight or nine years. That is one problem. The other problem is that the levies, taxes and VAT, which amount to 37% of the cost of the building of the house, must be paid upfront. I ask the Government to intervene here and do something about this. It can have all the pies in the skies and all the notions and all the strategies but they will amount to nothing if it does not deal with the fundamental problem, which is money for the builders to get them going. Maybe if they were rolling for two or three years again, they could keep rolling, but they cannot even start now because they cannot access money. It is not available from any Irish bank, and if they get money it is at a cost of 10% or 12.5% and it is from outside the country. That is not fair. If the Government does not address these two issues, it can keep developing strategies and printing books and papers, but it will not result in houses and we will finish up where we are, that is, nowhere.

I am sure the Deputy does not want to go back to having ghost estates, unfinished houses and builders going bust. There was previously very little regulation in this country over the amount of money that could be borrowed by builders. Loans of 100% were being made available and houses were then being sold on because of the profit that could be made on them. That all went bust, and Deputy Healy-Rae has evidence of it in his county, where there were ghost estates and unfinished houses before the sector collapsed. The same rules cannot be applied today. It is different and it must be so because we will not go back to that situation. That means that builders looking to get into the business of developing houses must have a basic level of capacity to obtain credit themselves because they will not be able to borrow 100% from banks. That requirement was brought in because of what happened. How many hundreds of thousands of young people looking for houses were left in the lurch because builders went wallop and because of the lending processes? If we are to build houses now, we will build them in a proper fashion, which will be overseen, so that people can have affordable houses to live in. To help with this, the Minister has made available, with Government approval, a whole range of initiatives for builders to get back into business. I have heard what the Construction Industry Federation has said about this. If these targets are met, there will be an explosion in building, which will be very good, if properly monitored, and in the interest of thousands of people who can fulfil their aspirations to have a house. However, it will not be done in the way in which attempts were being made before. Times have changed.

The Taoiseach has gone west again.

Yes.