I too welcome the announcement of a commission of inquiry. That inquiry will be far reaching. Fundamentally, it will go back to the origins of a state that was controlled by fear and where responsibility for services was often outsourced. This led to a real tragedy for those who lived in and, in some cases, died in mother and baby homes. I will obviously attend the briefing and comment on it later.

I wish to raise another issue, a contemporary example of the outsourcing of responsibility. Tomorrow we will pass the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. This is a seminal moment in that we will officially abandon people on housing waiting lists to the markets. In the absence of dealing with anything on the supply side, housing authorities will now become housing support agencies. This represents a fundamental shift in how we deal with housing. The private sector will now become the sole supplier, or almost the sole supplier, of social housing. It is a figleaf that attempts to cover up the emergency that is evident. Recent announcements by the Minister responsible for housing are intended to give the impression that many things are being done. Those announcements, however, are superficial and inadequate, given the scale of what is needed. Much of this is being brushed under the carpet.

In many cases, there are children involved. We are back talking about children. The children can be sheltered only for so long from the fear they will pick up from their parents. Uncertainty as to where they will go to school next week and the question of whether they will have a home in a month's time will inevitably have an impact on their lives.

There appears to be no standard response to the treatment of families facing homelessness; it very much depends on the location of the family. Some local authorities provide short-term temporary accommodation, and others send the individuals away. Some of those presenting are very vulnerable. How, for example, can a young woman who delivered twins ten weeks prematurely just three weeks ago go house-hunting when she is caring for those babies in intensive care? How can a deaf woman caring for a child with special needs convince a landlord to take less than the market rent? The entire process is very much a hands-off one. People are left to their own devices with unrealistic rent supplement limits. It is an impossible task.

Does the Taoiseach agree that housing authorities are being turned into housing support agencies? If not, what is the Government's plan to deal with the supply-side shortage in the short and medium terms? Will he acknowledge the role of rent supplement limits in the current crisis and take immediate steps to relax the rent caps to allow families to secure housing?

I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy for her comments and I know she will contribute constructively to the hearings being held by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

The Government considered this morning the latest report from the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, on the question of the provision of adequate social housing for people who need housing. Obviously, this is related to the general problems of homelessness and demand for houses. The report concluded that there is a requirement for a new funding model for the provision of social housing and that it will not be possible to continue funding through the model that applied before - direct provision through local authorities. A new funding model will have to be created to deal with the scale and cost of what is involved. The report from NESC is timely. It feeds into the strategy being followed now by the Minister of State responsible for housing, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, in the provision of direct housing, the provision of money strictly for homeless people and the allocation of moneys to have almost 2,000 units that have been boarded up for some time occupied by families so they can be taken out of hotels and bed and breakfasts and given proper, warm and appropriate accommodation. I refer also to the question of the delivery, through NAMA and other agencies, of both ground and the opportunity to provide adequate housing for people. The House will be aware that €50 million was provided through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government towards the provision of homelessness services in 2013. A similar investment is expected again this year. In addition, the health service spends €30 million providing care and supports for the homeless. Obviously, having emerged from a very difficult recession, very many people now regard this as a real issue. The Government recognises this. A central feature of the Government's focus this year is dealing with the construction sector. There is, of course, the opportunity for the private construction sector to step up to the mark in a way it has not been able to do in recent years and provide affordable, high-quality houses for people who need them at appropriate locations around the country. This is to prevent a repeat of the granting of planning permission in areas where it might not have been appropriate in many cases.

The Deputy's point is valid; it is recognised by the Government. Obviously, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is working very hard to make a real impact in this area.

The Taoiseach has just given me what is more or less a rundown of what was announced about a month ago. I cannot believe he thinks this is adequate to deal with the current crisis.

I wonder whether the Taoiseach has a real appreciation of the scale of the crisis. As he has just said, the €50 million announced for the provision of accommodation for homeless persons in the next two years will deliver something like 253 housing units nationwide. Obviously, this is to be welcomed, but it will not even scratch the surface in terms of what is needed. These announcements strike me as being on a par with the delusional budget that led to the medical card fiasco. The Government keeps on adopting piecemeal approaches when it is a supply side issue. As I have said on numerous occasions, we have been told at the environment committee that there is a very large amount of money to be leveraged from the European Investment Bank for this purpose, in the region of €500 million, but we are not getting to grips with this problem.

A question, please.

I recall the Taoiseach telling us a number of weeks ago that he had gone up to a homeless man on the street and talked to him. I urge him to go to any house for rent in Dublin, its suburbs or surrounding counties. What typically happens is that people plead with and beg the letting agents to accept rent supplement and they try to convince them to accept additional money under the table in order that they will not find themselves homeless.

A question, please.

I am just about to ask it. What the Taoiseach would notice is the sense of fear and panic people are confronted with when they find themselves in a situation they never thought would happen. My questions are as follows. Will the Government implement preventive programmes to prevent families from becoming homeless in the first place and work with some of the housing charities in that regard? Will it look in a serious way at the funding available through the European Investment Bank for the provision of a rental sector that would ultimately provide homes for people, rather than a temporary property solution for them?

The Government engages with the European Investment Bank and much more money is being invested now in a range of projects than was the case. In fact, one of the difficulties in Ireland in the past was that we did not bring forward projects of sufficient scale to warrant investment from the European Investment Bank. That is no longer the case.

I take the Deputy's point on the scale of what is available for particular housing, but we have to start somewhere. Why is it that we have all of these residential units boarded up? This leads to activities that are not in keeping with good estate management. The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, received money from the Government recently in order that every council in the country could bring 2,000 of these units back into a condition where people could live in them comfortably. When Dublin City Council repairs unit X which is boarded up, it tears everything out and starts as if it is an empty shell, when it is not necessary to do this in many cases. A good, competent builder could restore a unit to provide very comfortable accommodation for a hell of a lot less and in a lot less time. There is no reason for this, other than wanting to comply with spurious conditions. We have to start somewhere. I hope the bringing of these 2,000 units back on stream will send a signal in its own way from every local authority. The Minister of State now reports to the Government each week on the progress being made in order these units can be brought back into use.

On another point, I find that in this city, when a unit is brought back to a liveable standard, it is often nine or ten months before it is allocated to a family, which seems unorthodox. One would think that when units were identified, families would also be identified to move into them and not have them repaired and left vacant for 12 months or more.

Then do something about it.

The Taoiseach is the one in government.

The Taoiseach is in power.

Order, please. We are way over time.

If families were told at the beginning that a house was for them, it would deal with the problem and give them a sense of confidence and hope the issue could be sorted out. We have had discussions in the House specifically on housing and the Minister of State has a particular strategy. We need a longer term focus.

More hot air.

What we want to end up with is more houses than we need to control prices and markets. However, we cannot build them overnight, as the Deputy is well aware.

On the pilot housing assistance scheme to ensure people do not lose all of their benefits and the question of rent capping, these are all matters that are being considered by the Minister of State. Obviously, Deputies are entitled to request the Ceann Comhairle to take matters of topical interest when they arise. It is genuinely a focus of the Minister of State with responsibility for housing with the full backing of the Government. I hope that within six months we can make real progress on it.

The Taoiseach is a waffler.

Deputy Enda Kenny is the Taoiseach.