Deputy Billy Kelleher had the opportunity to speak. Will he now allow me the chance to do so?

I also avail of the opportunity to extend Christmas wishes to all Members of the House, the Ceann Comhairle and the staff, including support staff. I would also like us to spare a thought for those Members of the Houses who are unwell. I am thinking of our own Deputy Nicky McFadden but also Senator Jimmy Harte who I believe is still in hospital. I am sorry if I have left others out, but I would particularly like us to join together in extending the warmest greetings to both of them at this time.

The Minister probably thought when he saw that Deputy Billy Kelleher and I were taking Leaders' Questions they would be on the same subject, but they are not.

I want to address housing need and homelessness because of the time of year. I hope we can find some common accord on it. On 7 February 2002, the Minister's colleague, who is now Tánaiste and leader of his party, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, said in this House:

The Government's housing policy has been a disgrace, testified to by the fact there were 26,000 applicants on local authority lists when it took office... I estimate there are about 60,000 families on local authority waiting lists... It is time the Minister of State, the Minister and the Government were swept from office and a Government elected which will deal with the housing crisis.

I fully agreed with Deputy Eamon Gilmore when he made those remarks in the House. How do the Minister's colleagues, particularly Labour Party Ministers, stand over the fact that the housing waiting list is some 90,000 families across the State, which is 30,000 family units more than when Deputy Eamon Gilmore made those remarks about the previous Government? It is an area of great concern to many people. The Labour Party quite rightly condemned the failure of the previous Governments to build local authority housing and its almost total dependence on the private rented sector and rent supplement in order to cater to the needs of people who could not afford their own homes. Does the Minister accept this Government has continued with a similar approach and there has been a failure to address in a real and substantive way the housing need and homelessness that presents up and down the length and breadth of the country in our cities and towns and across rural Ireland? Does the Minister not accept the public moneys expended on rent supplement would be better employed adding to a fund to create a new public housing stock to meet the needs of our people and be part of the assets of our State to meet the needs of future generations?

Some €400 million was expended in rent supplement in 2013. There is unquestionably a need but there is not the address of some 90,000 family units across the State. I appeal to the Minister and his colleagues in both parties in government to recognise that this is a most serious issue that needs urgent address. At the earliest point in the new year, the Government should pledge to address it in the way it must be grappled with. There is no excuse for the continuation of a piecemeal approach, with piddling little efforts here and there. We need a substantial public housing building programme to meet the needs of those who have housing need. This could be part of the generation of a new impetus in the economy.

I thank the Deputy for the expression of goodwill extended to me and my colleagues and, in particular, his recognition of colleagues who are not well. He mentioned a Deputy and a Senator and perhaps there are others. It is a sentiment I completely support and I thank him for raising it.

I share the Deputy's concern, as does the Labour Party, about what has happened to the public housing sector, its destruction under section 5 and the reliance on rent supplement that has driven so many people into a difficult situation. We had discussions in the Parliamentary Labour Party about the matter, as other parties have had. Turning around the system is taking time. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government are working closely together. It is expected 5,000 units will be made available this year, which is a small sum relative to the figure quoted. The representatives from all Dublin constituencies will be appalled at the practice in the Dublin area of local authority apartments being boarded up and awaiting maintenance while there are people who would happily occupy them and would do them up themselves. The Minister of State is in talks with the Dublin City Council officials. This is largely a Dublin City Council matter although other local authorities have some rented apartments. We must get a more efficient way of utilising property that is not being properly utilised. I will bring the comments of the Deputy to the attention of the Minister of State because we share a similar approach to the matter.

The Minister cited a figure of 5,000 units. Would that it were the case that we have the certainty of this promise. My colleague, Deputy Dessie Ellis, has been pursuing the matter with the Minister and his Department but we can get no certainty, facts or detail on where the apartments or houses are to be constructed. Is there any decision on such a roll-out? It is an inadequate figure in any event and the potential is so much greater. The figures I have cited relate to an even larger problem because people cannot get on housing lists. This applies to people with no income, those without a valid lease for where they live and the added problem of rent supplement, which is needed in some cases. The increases in rent in the city, some 7.8% over the course of the year, puts people outside the qualification thresholds for rent supplement. In this situation, many landlords do not co-operate with tenants in properly accounting for the relationship. Is the Minister aware that the director of advocacy for Focus Ireland, someone who he knows well personally and who is a former general secretary of the Labour Party, has described the Government's promised provision of housing units as "quite clearly a totally inadequate response to the scale of the problem we've got"? The Minister should not take it from me but from someone who embraces his own politics as warmly as any of his colleagues in the House. Can the Minister please utilise the opportunity of this last sitting before Christmas to give people in real housing need and the homeless of our State, some real prospect that the Government will address the issue in a real and substantive way as early in 2014 as is practical?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and I share his concern. We are grappling with one thing many Administrations tried to do and found very difficult, to transfer to local authorities from the Department of Social Protection responsibility for the housing supplement so that one body deals with the area. Many have argued for it, including the body the Deputy cited. I will bring to the attention of the Minister of State and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the concerns expressed and I thank the Deputy for raising them.