Fianna Fáil has hit out at the Government and said that the announcement about NAMA being used to help provide housing in Ireland lacks any specific detail.

Deputy Cowen stated that using NAMA was a core part of the Fianna Fáil election manifesto but it must be focused on delivering affordable homes for ordinary families.

He said: "An explicit commitment of the Confidence and Supply arrangement is the establishment of an affordable housing scheme. We believe that NAMA should be used for this explicit purpose of helping increase supply and open up home ownership to working families currently squeezed out of the market.

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"NAMA can and should be used to launch affordable housings schemes in Dublin and other urban areas where supply is weakest and where prices are highest.

"This will help ensure that working families are not priced out of the market and have a chance to own their own home. This was originally outlined in our manifesto and would be financed by a new national home building bond, on an off balance sheet basis, and through funds from the Strategic Investment Fund and the credit union movement.

"I am deeply concerned that this is another one of his Government's kite flying exercises rather than a substantive policy proposal."

(CD/LM)