I welcome the Exchequer returns as further evidence of our economic recovery, one which is being seen by everybody in terms of increased footfall on our streets and in our shops. From what I have heard from many Senators, we are all feeling it a little in our pockets in terms of increased accommodation costs in Dublin. I also welcome NAMA's continuing progress. It has now paid off €15.1 billion in bonds and will today pay off a further €1 billion bond. I welcome its involvement in the development of the 400,000 sq. ft. Boland's Mills site which will cost €150 million and will address shortfalls in office and rental accommodation. It should be noted today that NAMA will have paid off all bonds by 2018, which is two years ahead of schedule. This is a sign of further good progress. Please God at the end of it all there will be a profit for the State, which would be very welcome.

Senator Darragh O'Brien referred to homelessness. In this regard, I would like to reiterate what I said yesterday. I believe the Lord Mayor, Christy Burke, has been doing great work. Dublin City Council is also to be commended for its provision of €2.44 million towards emergency accommodation and a further €2.5 million to various charities, including the Fr. Peter McVerry Trust, the Simon Community and others, in respect of their important work in this area. As stated yesterday, more sheltered accommodation should be provided through Dublin City Council. As pointed out, there are a number of idle buildings throughout Dublin city and perhaps through the good offices of Dublin City Council some of them can be obtained and used to provide short-term accommodation for homeless people.

I agree entirely with Senator Paul Coghlan's remarks about the Exchequer returns, behind which is another figure that is even more promising, namely, the competitiveness figures which indicate that Ireland has become much more competitive. That we allowed our costs to get out of control during the good years caused real difficulty. All of the current statistics in terms of competitiveness indicate we are in a much stronger position for the future. Let us ensure we protect ourselves and do not make the same mistakes we made in the past.

I am looking forward to the debate tonight on homelessness. The real problem in this regard is that we do not have sufficient houses or other types of accommodation in which to house people because over the years we got into the habit of building outwards rather than upwards.

In other countries, there has been a tendency to build much taller buildings. We made mistakes in Ballymun some 30 or 40 years ago. In general terms, though, making better use of land in this way would enable us to support the infrastructure. If we continue building houses outwards rather than upwards, each with its own garden and space, the schools, shops and infrastructure that are necessary to follow through on that policy will also have to be built. Making better use of our land by building upwards rather than outwards is worthy of consideration in the near future.