Bogfaimid ar aghaidh go dtí Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh. I dtús báire, beidh cainteoir ó Shinn Féin ann. Arís, de bharr srianta ama, beidh suas le nóiméad ag gach duine.

Yesterday the Central Statistics Office published the latest property price report that shows property prices are continuing to spiral out of control. In the past year house prices have increased by 14.4% across the State. The Border region is seeing crazy house price inflation at prices increasing by up to 24% in the past year. This is scandalous. House prices are almost at a Celtic tiger peak, and as a result of Government policy, ordinary people, ordinary families and workers simply cannot afford to buy a home. First-time buyers in this city would have to have income of over €130,000 to get a mortgage to cover a house in Dublin.

This week the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, told the Dáil that he wants to see more cuckoo funds. These are the funds that are pricing ordinary workers and families out of the market. Does the Minister, Deputy Ryan, agree with the Minister for Finance that more cuckoo funds is the solution? Is it not time to clip their wings and to end the tax advantages enjoyed by these funds? These funds are distorting the market. Is it not time to increase stamp duty on them?

We need to spend about €12 billion per year to really tackle the problem. Some €4 billion of that will come from the State and €8 billion from elsewhere. My job and my role, and what I want to do, comes back to what I said about Dublin Port: do we need all of the land with the expectation that it would double the amount of traffic in the port? I would say "No". We should take some of those pockets of land that are within walking distance of the city centre, where the problem is at its most acute, and build high-quality housing particularly for cost rental housing, through the Land Development Agency. We have started this, it is not just talk. We started with Irish Rail and with land to the west of Heuston Station and around Conyngham Road bus station to start planning now to put in housing now. I could go through this Department by Department, public land by public land. That we have control of and that we can do, in line with also getting the €8 billion which we need from the private sector. We need both of those combined to tackle the problem.

As we all say, Covid has changed everything and has been the great disrupter. Many people are moving around and changing their work patterns, through working remotely and so on. I have never seen so many people moving home to my own county. In the context of spatial planning changing, and with Covid having had such a disrupting effect, what is the Minister's personal position on the 170 km Shannon water pipeline?

I listened to an interview the Minister did not so long ago. What he said in that interview was very interesting. This is going through public consultation at the moment and he acknowledged everything had changed fundamentally. He made some interesting comments on how we should plan for the future, economically, environmentally and spatially. Given that this is now under public consultation, is it the view of the Minister that this is necessary or should we consider other options, in particular as regards how we plan our country?

I will give my personal view based on real experience in Dublin. In 2018, we came very close to drought in Dublin. There is undoubtedly a real issue with water supply in Dublin. I was in Shannon and Ennis last week and I also have long held the view that we need better balanced regional development. A lot of water use is industrial. People do not see it or notice it, but it is huge. If that is where the water is, would we not move industry there, rather than shipping everything somewhere else? There is imbalance in this country. I mentioned earlier that 97% of roll-on roll-off traffic comes in through Dublin Port and 95% of air passengers come through Dublin Airport. Some 75% of new houses are in the greater Dublin area, that is, Dublin and surrounding counties from where people are commuting into Dublin. This is not working for Dublin or the rest of the country. The biggest problem in Clare and Shannon is water. We cannot build houses in Clare because Irish Water is not investing in towns and villages there which would be perfect to build in. I would bring the jobs west.

Hear, hear.

Minister, we are over time. These are just short questions and answers.