The programme for Government commits to an affordable housing scheme. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has flagged that this will involve a shared equity scheme, presumably to be announced in the budget on Tuesday. There is a real danger that a shared equity scheme could lead to house price inflation and developers pushing up prices of new build homes. Given that there is a big gap between what the developers say are construction costs and what independent experts say are construction costs, what action will the Government take and what measures will be put in place to prevent a shared equity scheme pushing up house prices to ensure that housing is affordable?

The experience in the UK does not suggest that will happen. Affordable housing is an important ambition and initiative but there are challenges around it. In terms of serviced sites, for example, that is taking more time than people would have thought in terms of getting off the ground but there are schemes that are being developed. People do need to have access to affordable housing in this country. In addition, there needs to be a strong social housing building programme. Unfortunately, during Covid-19, house building was reduced. Construction generally was reduced. In European terms, because of the lockdown and the closure of construction, employment in construction here decreased more than it did anywhere else across Europe, although one has to caveat that by saying there is a difficulty sometimes in comparing numbers across member states. Overall, as can be seen from the ESRI study, the domestic economy took a big hit during the lockdown. The multinational sector has been robust. It has been of huge benefit to the country in terms of economic resilience, in terms of employment and in terms of supporting the overall needs of the economy, which Members across the House should acknowledge and take on board in terms of the ideological positions they articulate from time to time.