I find it difficult to recognise the Minister's offering as a housing strategy. On 5 April 2015, the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, stated in the Dáil that funding of €312 million announced by the Government would provide 1,700 homes by the end of 2017 and would be used for direct builds, meaning not for leasing or buying. This represents accommodation for fewer than 2% of those on the social housing waiting list. It suggests that the lion's share of funding will go towards leasing from private landlords and yet the Government's housing policy document warns of the problems arising from the already massive dependence on the private sector for social housing provision, namely, that this reliance is unstable, especially as landlords are seeking higher rents and there are problems identifying new supply. Michael Taaffe has pointed out that the Government's entire housing strategy is reliant on a long string of fanciful hopes bearing fruit in the right quantity at the right time. The Government's reliance on non-capital expenditure should be seen as risky at best. The plan would clearly push the whole area into the hands of the private rental market. It will put upward pressure on private rents as private tenants compete for units. The State is adding diesel to the fire.

I remind the Minister that we have a serious housing crisis and the Government is not really dealing with it. The Government's so-called housing strategy for the next few years does not add up. The convoluted and contradictory plan announced by the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, on several occasions over the past six months does not make sense a lot of the time.

The Minister says the Government is committed to developing sustainable communities but the evidence differs. Wexford is being given €25 million to build 677 local authority houses, which equates to €37,400 a unit. Wexford has been told it can build 19 local authority social housing units in the next three years. I was speaking to a woman who has six children and who is being pushed out of her private rental accommodation. She is paying the rent but her landlord says he wants to sell the property. It is obvious that he is not getting enough rent for it even though the woman is adding a top-up payment to the rent supplement. Why would any landlord take €575 when he can get €700 or €750? The whole equation is problematic. There is no sense in the Government's approach and it is too dependent on the private sector behaving in a moral fashion towards those in dire straits. The Government will need to rethink the strategy. Would the Minister consider appealing to the EU for off-balance sheet capital funding so that we could build State-funded social housing in order to address the massive problem?

There is no doubt that there has been a very high reliance on the private rented sector in recent years for dealing with social housing needs. The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, has changed that direction and his commitment is to build 35,000 social housing units-----

Where?

-----by housing associations and by the city councils. That is a reversal of the trend and it will meet a need in the market. Private rented accommodation will remain a part of the policy. The Government is developing the housing assistance payment which will be available as a better transition-----

-----for people who are dependent on rent supplement to allow them go back to work and continue to receive rent support. In addition, the Minister has sought from the local authorities sites where there is the prospect for immediate housing by the private sector which will carry with it a certain percentage of social housing. The Minister is developing a multi-pronged approach to addressing the housing crisis along with the housing strategy which is improving the planning procedures to make it easier to progress the supply of housing.

The figures do not add up.

There has been a bottleneck in housing supply, in particular in the Dublin area. However, a series of initiatives are being put in place to break the bottleneck. I am confident that these will have an impact over the coming year and beyond.

The waiting list in Wexford is 3,600 and 19 units will be constructed in the next three years. Where, in God's name, is the common sense there? We talk about tackling domestic violence. The Minister may be interested to hear that the women's refuge centre in Wexford turned away 338 women and 259 children last year. This is directly linked to the housing crisis in Wexford because there is nowhere for them to go and there is no room for them in the refuge centre. The private rental market discriminates against people on rent supplement and that is a fact. The people relying on rent supplement end up in the poorest housing in the poorest areas. It is an extension of ghettoisation which successive Governments have not addressed and which has been perpetrated by the likes of the Construction Industry Federation which has refused to implement Part V in the manner for which it was designed. The Government could do something about this and it has an opportunity to change it.

The Government could start introducing real social housing that is State-built, high-quality and affordable in well-structured neighbourhoods. The Government can address homelessness, inequality, equality of opportunity and quality of life in the process.

Deputy, could you put your question, please? Thank you.

Housing is too expensive in Ireland in the private sector and social housing is not available. Renting accommodation is too expensive. In the housing sector land-banking and land speculation take place and nothing has been done about it. The Kenny report is still being ignored. The Government is ignoring the elephant in the room. A two-bedroom apartment in Dominick Street today is €1,400 per month.

Sorry, Deputy, you have a minute for a question.

It is possible to rent a two-bedroom apartment in most cities in Italy for €400. There is a problem with the quality and type of housing we are using but the Government is not addressing it.

Thank you, Deputy.

We have not built apartments that families can move into. Why are we not addressing the quality and type of housing that is being built? There is a homeless crisis and only sticking plasters are being applied. I appeal to the Minister-----

Sorry, Deputy, would you please resume your seat? You are way over time. Thank you.

Why does the Government not hold a forum and bring all the stakeholders together, including Government officials, banks, developers, builders, building regulation people, engineers, technologists, planners and others such as people from the geography department in NUI Maynooth as well as social workers?

Deputy, would you please adhere to the request of the Chair? Please resume your seat. Thank you.

The Department does not-----

Deputy, would you resume your seat? Thank you.

The Department is not in touch with reality.

Deputy, I will not ask you a second time.

I appeal to the Minister. The Government is not addressing the crisis.

The truth is that the Government has committed €4 billion to the development of the social housing programme. This was against a background when there was little money being set aside for this programme.

What has the Government done in the past four years?

The Minister has set a target to reduce by 2017 the number of people on the housing list by 25%. There is a clear commitment in this area. As Deputy Wallace has said, there is already a commitment to commence 100 projects. There are 350 social housing projects currently under construction. In addition, NAMA has made units available to local authorities.

There is a concerted programme of seeking to move this on. Indeed, the Minister for Finance convened the sort of meeting that Deputy Wallace referred to, bringing together planners, funders and the construction people to help broker deals that would see more supply developed.

What about emergency housing?

A range of initiatives are being implemented on a systematic basis under the direction of the Cabinet committee on housing and construction. Real progress is being made here. I acknowledge there are real difficulties in this sector, but the commitment is there and we are seeing the projects start. We are seeing concerted action to remove bottlenecks that have stood in the way of progress in the past.