We heard announcements this morning of housing initiatives, some of which would be workable and are short term. There is no date for publication of the landlord and tenant law reform Bill, which is on the B list of the Government’s legislative programme. If these initiatives are to be of value, it will be in the short term. Does the Taoiseach have any timeline for the publication of the Bill? Will these initiatives be positioned in this Bill?

I do not have a date for the publication of the Bill. The references made this morning are speculative. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is considering a range of areas and elements in housing, not least of which is to start the actual construction in respect of which the Government has made a substantial amount of money available for the next few years.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, has made it clear that rent controls are not possible. Recent reports have suggested that new powers may be given to the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, to curtail excessive rent increases by landlords. The haemorrhage from rent supplement arrangements and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, to homelessness continues unabated. Can the Taoiseach confirm these reports and whether legislation is required, and when and if it will be brought forward? I assume this would be the landlord and tenant law reform Bill. It is urgent because there is an avalanche at the moment.

I cannot give a date for the publication of the landlord and tenant law reform Bill. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is considering the matters the Deputy refers to, among others. He will bring his conclusions to Government and publish them in due course. I cannot confirm the implementation of the speculation I saw in the newspaper today.