I want to ask the Taoiseach about the Government's plan to pay big developers up to €120,000 per apartment they build. This has people shaking their heads in disbelief. Essentially, it means the Government proposes to give €450 million of taxpayers' money to a few developers. This is astonishing. What is more astonishing is that there will be no cut in the price of those apartments, which the developer will put on the market for anything between €400,000 and €600,000. This is way beyond the reach of ordinary workers and families. This is the transfer of million of taxpayers' money to developers with no public benefit at a time when local authorities and housing bodies are crying out for funding. How does the Taoiseach justify a misguided policy such as this?

There has been a well-documented viability gap between the delivery cost of eligible apartments and the open market sale price of the apartments. This is preventing many apartments from being built. There is a significant issue in the cities in particular. We want to enable affordability for people to be in a position to buy.

The beneficiaries of this grant will be members of the general public, who will now be in a position to buy apartments in city schemes, and the apartment supply sector, which can bring stalled schemes to construction. It is one part of a suite of measures designed to increase social, affordable and private housing. It will only bridge the gap between the achievable price on the open market and the cost of construction, which in many cases is expected to be less than €120,000.