I join with the Taoiseach and Deputies Kenny and Rabbitte in expressing sympathy to the child and family of the late Donna Cleary. I absolutely deplore her brutal murder, which underlines the need to consider other, more effective ways of addressing the supply of guns and weapons in our society. The focus should be on the drugs trade in particular, which sustains the armed criminal gangs not only in this city but throughout society.

I want to raise another issue with the Taoiseach. Is he familiar with the statistics released on Monday on the provision of social and affordable housing under Part V of the Planning and Development Act? Is the Taoiseach aware that these statistics clearly demonstrate the failure of Government policy to properly provide for the needs of not only those on our housing waiting lists but clearly statistically cannot hope for many years to come to make a serious dent in the some 43,600 family units currently on housing waiting lists throughout the State? Is the Taoiseach aware that with the adoption of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, he and his party were clearly subjected to a clamour from those within the building industry and developer interests?

And in the House.

As a result, the Taoiseach and his colleagues facilitated, letting off the hook, those whose responsibility it was to provide 20% social and affordable housing within all private developments. The Government rammed through and guillotined in Christmas week 2002 a revisitation of that requirement, which allowed those developers to buy out of their responsibilities to address the social and affordable housing of needs of people in this jurisdiction through the use of money and the transfer of land banks to local authorities.

Is the Taoiseach aware that of the 80,000 new homes built in 2005, a mere 830 were allocated to social and affordable housing under Part V of the Planning and Development Act? That is marginally more than 1% of the housing provided last year and a far cry from the 20% requirement under the aegis of the legislation. The amending legislation the Taoiseach and his colleagues rammed through the Chamber, despite the concerns expressed by Opposition voices of what would happen and what has now proven to be the case, has let off the hook those who had a clear and binding responsibility. The Taoiseach, his party and the PDs stand condemned by these statistics, which demonstrate clearly that the Government's cosy relationship with the developers in our society was more important to it than meeting the housing needs of the most poor, needy and marginalised in our society. We want to hear the Taoiseach's response to the facts before the House.

Deputy Ó Caoláin is aware that when we introduced the Planning and Development Act 2000, it was the first time in three decades that the issue of trying to improve affordable housing on zoned land had been dealt with since the Kenny report in 1970.

Not so.

Part V was introduced in 2000 and continues to gather momentum. Provisional figures available show that numbers are increasing this year. Not all housing developments are subject to Part V. An important point tends to be ignored — the Deputy, looking at recent figures, has done so as well. It is not correct to take 81,000 units last year, divide by two and multiply by 20. It gives a totally false picture of potential Part V output. As we move through houses that did not require to be subject to Part V affordable schemes we see an increase in the number of affordable houses.

The Government is disappointed that local authorities seem to make deals with developers at local authority level. If I had more support at local authority level, I would try to reverse that.

That is not the Taoiseach's decision.

The Deputy's party has quite a lot of support in this city. Perhaps he will encourage it to try to press the issue along.

Record levels of funding are being provided for social and affordable housing programmes. Additional funding has been secured in the budget. The provision for this year is in excess of €2 billion, which is more than double the expenditure when the Planning and Development Act 2000 was introduced. The needs of some 14,000 households have been met from funding for social and affordable housing this year——

It has arrived.

——and further households will benefit from the rental accommodation scheme. In the region of 13,000 households were assisted through the full range of social and affordable housing measures in 2005 and 23,000 new units of social housing will commence between 2006 and 2008. A total of 15,000 units of affordable housing will be delivered in the same period. This Government was anxious to increase the level of housing, which used to be about 25,000 in output per year. Thankfully, last year we got output up to 81,000.

Deputy Ó Caoláin is right in one respect. When we brought in Part V, there was a barrage in the House. He will recall — although he has forgotten temporarily — that the barrage did not come from this side of the House. It came from the Opposition parties because they said — it was the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey's proposal that Part V be in that Act — we would stop building altogether instead of increasing supply. The matter was pressed here in leader's questions and Taoiseach's questions, not to mind questions to the Department of the Environment and Local Government, to make changes in that.

Government backbenchers also pressed it.

Whatever changes we made did not stop the Minister for Finance this year putting more than €2 billion — double the expenditure — into affordable housing. I hope the Deputy in his next two minutes will outline what efforts his party with its new support in local authorities might make to press them to try to help the Minister's policies.

I am happy to say that my colleagues on Dublin City Council have a very honourable record on the issue of housing and development, something I doubt that the Taoiseach could place his hand on his heart and claim. The Taoiseach has an interest in accountancy. When he talked of dividing by two and multiplying by 20 I wonder what in the name of God this would bring one to. What was it all about?

I will tell the Deputy in a minute.

Just to give the Taoiseach some real statistics, the reality since 2002 is that more than 230,000 homes have been completed and put on sale. Approximately a third of these were bought as second homes or to be owned by investors. At best, it is estimated that only 1,600 houses have been provided under Part V since 2002. The Taoiseach should check the statistics with his colleague in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. He will find these are indisputable facts. It has to be pathetic. Part V was introduced in 1999 by the Taoiseach's colleague on the Front Bench, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey.

2000.

I supported it. It is a measure that needs to be implemented. Will the Taoiseach revisit the amendment he rushed through the House in Christmas week 2002 and restore the original intent and purpose of the 1999 Act? This "get out" clause is making an absolute ass of the entire intent, if it was real from day one. I remind the Taoiseach of what the then Minister said on that day. He stated: "The plan will lead to an additional 35,000 local authority units, an increase in the voluntary housing sector provision of houses from 500 a year to 4,000 a year and an increase to 2,000 units per year under the current local authority affordable housing and shared ownership schemes". If only any of that were true.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

It reads like a sick joke for any of the 43,000 people in question and their families, more than 130,000 citizens who are waiting to be properly housed in the State. It is an indictment of the Taoiseach and his Government's failure to recognise their primary responsibility to the ordinary citizens and not the interests of the developer class. Will the Taoiseach reverse the amendment of December 2002 and return to the intent announced by the then Minister in 1999?

As the Deputy knows, local authorities are allowed to use discretion and flexibility in this area. The Minister, Deputy Roche, would like them to do so and has urged them to do so. Such flexibility exists.

The Deputy suggests nothing is happening in this area but I remind him that more than €2 billion will be invested in social and affordable housing. The needs of some 14,000 householders will be met. The Deputy asked what I meant by referring to last year's output of 81,000 being built under the scheme and referred to dividing by two and multiplying by 20. I did so because the figure he quoted at the beginning was from a report that did exactly that. It divided the figure of 81,000 units by two and multiplied by 20 and stated that this was what should be provided under Part V.

Does the Taoiseach want an abacus?

For example, from last year's total output of 81,000 units, more than 8,000 were built under social and affordable schemes and, along with 25,000 one-off houses, these would not have been subject to Part V and must be subtracted from the calculations. We estimate that more than 10,000 units of total housing output were subject to Part V last year. Deputy Ó Caoláin is basing his calculations on 81,000 units——

The Taoiseach is working from 800,000 units.

——but the figure should be the 10,000 houses that were subject to Part V. The figures from the report to which the Deputy is refers do not stack up.

Allow the Taoiseach to reply without interruption.

Deputy Ó Caoláin questioned the figures so I wish to provide the final figures. Some €2 billion will be spent this year, the needs of 14,000 households will be met from funding for social and affordable measures this year and further households will benefit from the accommodation scheme, which compares with 8,500 before the Act was passed. At the end of 2005 almost 100,000 had benefited from these measures over recent years and 13,000 householders were assisted through the full range of social housing measures.

Will the Taoiseach reverse the decision of December 2002?

In terms of output, social and affordable housing, the voluntary sector and the resources provided, the analysis provided by Deputy Ó Caoláin is incorrect. We can try to achieve the flexibility in the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2002. We can also try to get local authorities to use the principle of Part V instead of making arrangements with developers. This responsibility lies with local authorities.

Somebody else is to blame.

Legislation is required.