We are in the midst of a full-blown national housing crisis. It is a crisis which needs to be tackled with determination and a real sense of urgency. As the Tánaiste knows, rents are soaring. Up to 130,000 applicants are on social housing waiting lists and housing supply is minimal. The rent caps in the rent supplement scheme are so out of line with market rents that they are little more than a fantasy. The Central Bank deposit rules have made it incredibly difficult for first-time buyers in major urban areas and many of those who are looking to trade up are, in effect, trapped by the 20% deposit rule. Mortgage interest relief is gone for home buyers and banks are leaning on indebted landlords who have good tenants to force them to push rents towards market rents. Banks are repossessing homes with increasing zeal and do not even have to comply now with the code of conduct on mortgage arrears before proceeding with the repossession of a home. The cruellest face of the housing crisis is the scandal of homelessness with people sleeping rough on our streets and 1,500 children living in emergency accommodation.

With each passing day, we are treated to another leak about what the Government intends to do to tackle the crisis. Today's instalment is tax breaks for landlords if they accept tenants on rent supplement or the housing assistance payment. That proposal will simply not work, primarily because it will not add a single new unit to housing stock. Second, if a landlord has the option of accepting rent of €1,400 a month in the private market or taking €800 per month under the rent supplement or HAP scheme, he or she would want one hell of a tax break to choose the latter. Every Deputy is inundated day after day with housing related issues. The elephant in the room is the lack of housing supply. The consistent message we are all getting from the construction sector is that it is simply not viable to build. There are a number of steps the Government needs to take urgently. First, it must examine why it costs so much to build a home in Ireland today. It must examine the State controlled costs which are an important part of those input costs, including development levies and the Irish Water connection which I am told is adding €3,000 to €4,000 to the cost of building a new home. It must make finance available so that residential construction can get under way. In July, €500 million was announced through the Strategic Investment Fund, but it is not yet up and running. It will be towards the end of the year at the earliest before it is operational and I am told that the cost of borrowing from the fund will be in the region of 14%, which is absolutely mad at a time when the State is borrowing at record low interest rates of between 1% and 2%.

Within the Tánaiste's own Department, she needs to lift the rent caps immediately to bring some sense of reality to the rent supplement and HAP schemes and to introduce a level of rent certainty. This is a crisis in the here and now. It is all very fine to talk about grandiose plans for billions of euro to build thousands of houses, but the reality is that tonight 1,500 children in Ireland will sleep in emergency accommodation. There are 130,000 families on the social housing list. It is a scandal, it is not acceptable and it is not going to get any better without major intervention. There is no building and there is no supply and the problem is only going to get worse. What is the Government going to do about it?

Notwithstanding the general economic recovery that is under way and that, thankfully is getting stronger every day, I accept that as a country we have a legacy issue in relation to housing arising, as Deputy Michael McGrath well knows, from the collapse in the building industry. Leaving that aside, I note the following on rent supplement which I am not sure people like the Deputy particularly understand. Through rent supplement, we provide housing and homes for 65,000 individuals and families. It is one of the largest suppliers of rental accommodation in the country. What we do and have been doing for some time is to negotiate rents on an individual basis with landlords. The 65,000 homes in question constitute approximately 30% of the entire rental market in the State and our concern as a major player in the private rented market is about what will happen if we simply follow the demands of some landlords who, I have to say, are excessively greedy. The Deputy referred to it himself and let us not put a tooth in it. They are excessively greedy and they are looking for more and more money every couple of months to a scale that is not particularly justified on economic grounds. We can understand that they may be looking to recover losses from the crash, but what we are exploring as a Government currently is the provision of rent certainty. In other European countries where the rental model works quite well, rents are stable over a three-year period or longer in relation to the tenancy agreement.

Coming back to rent supplement, I will give the Deputy the figures to the end of September. We have negotiated new rental agreements which have generally involved significant increases in rents on a case-by-case basis. Working with the family or individual concerned, we have negotiated almost 2,700 agreements through the new, improved community welfare service that the Department of Social Protection offers since we took over the service from the HSE a couple of years ago. The Deputy will know that we work on a protocol with Threshold and a number of other agencies, including Simon, on a smaller scale, and have actually negotiated over 1,200 agreements on that basis this year.

Of the 65,000 people and families in rental accommodation, many of their landlords do not regularly raise rents, but there is a cohort of landlords who do and often ask tenants to leave houses, frequently because a returning emigrant child is going to use the family property. That is fine and valid.

I just want the Deputy to be sure. I want to send out the message to people on rent supplement - we text over 40,000 such customers on a monthly basis, but I want all Deputies to hear this and pass the message on to people who attend their clinics with difficulties - that, if they contact the community welfare service, not only can we negotiate rent successfully, but we will, as the statistics show. This should assist families. The one-to-one contact is also a way of reaching out for more detailed assistance in a variety of other areas, for instance, helping individuals or families into education, training and employment. It is a different kind of in-depth service.

In June 2012, we raised rents across the board by an average of €12,000. Two months later, landlords were back looking for another 10% to 20%. What I want-----

Introduce rent controls.

The Government sorted out those landlords, but what about the ones who are selling their houses?

The Tánaiste is talking a load of waffle. Introduce rent controls.

The Tánaiste has the floor.

Some 65,000 people on rent supplement-----

I do not know whether the Tánaiste realises that there is an emergency.

-----and getting good homes from landlords is not waffle.

It is waffle.

That shows the level of Sinn Féin's cynicism about our country.

Cynicism. I do not think that the Tánaiste is even on the ground. She is on another planet. She does not know what is happening.

Order, please. The Tánaiste to conclude.

Sinn Féin denied-----

The Tánaiste is denying.

-----this country over and over again. It shows an appalling level of cynicism that Sinn Féin would decry-----

This shows the Tánaiste's level of understanding.

-----65,000 families and individuals being assisted through rent supplement with housing-----

For God's sake. This is ridiculous.

-----that, for the most part, is good. I just want to send out the message to Deputy Michael McGrath-----

The majority are suffering.

What about prefabs?

-----that we are doing this on an individual basis. It is in addition to the investment of €3.8 billion in building and acquiring homes and refitting those that have been closed. Deputies know that the practice of voids in county councils around the country, particularly Dublin where it has been a major problem, is being brought to an end. Those houses are being given out this year in their hundreds-----

That is all gone.

When? We have been hearing that for years.

There is no supply.

-----to families that require housing. Houses are being built as well.

Out of touch.

People want to hear solutions to this crisis.

That is right.

If the rent supplement-----

They wanted them ten years ago but did not get them.

If I may, Deputy, please.

Do not talk, Deputy Durkan.

Fianna Fáil privatised social housing by handing it over to the private sector.

Could we have order, please? Deputy Michael McGrath has the floor.

Deputy Durkan's party has had power for four and a half years.

People want to hear-----

Fianna Fáil privatised the whole system.

Ten years ago, Deputy Michael McGrath signed up to-----

Listen, Members.

Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle stop the clock, please?

Deputies, we cannot hear.

Fianna Fáil did not build social housing.

It was Fianna Fáil that caused the problems by privatising the system.

Fianna Fáil only built nine social houses in Trim over 14 years.

It did not build many social houses during the boom.

Will Members settle down, please, while Deputy Michael McGrath asks a supplementary question?

I have clearly touched a nerve.

Deputy Michael McGrath touched no nerve but his own.

This situation has gone out of control.

Fianna Fáil touched a nerve with the Irish people.

I am sorry, but Deputy Michael McGrath has the floor.

Let me tell the Government Deputies a few home truths.

I thought that Fine Gael members were landlords.

If the rent supplement scheme is so flexible and accommodating, why are people becoming homeless?

Yes.

The Deputy's party was there for years.

We are all practising politicians. We know what is happening on the ground.

And we know what caused it as well.

Deputy, please.

The level of flexibility that the Tánaiste talked about is not there.

Fianna Fáil privatised social housing.

Deputy Finian McGrath was a part of-----

Deputy Stagg does not like listening to the truth.

Fianna Fáil handed it over to landlords. Money was coming out of its ears.

There are many more homeless now.

The chickens have come home to roost.

Deputy Durkan, please.

I am sorry, but I get upset when I hear that kind of nonsense.

Deputy Michael McGrath has the floor.

Bernard is upset.

Not for the first time.

Throw him out.

Never in government.

The truth of the matter is-----

Fianna Fáil handed the whole thing over to private landlords and is now complaining about it.

Deputy, please.

Throw him out, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Deputy Stagg is harassing Deputy Michael McGrath.

This is Leaders' Questions, Deputy Stagg.

People want to hear solutions.

Hear, hear.

They want us to debate rationally-----

We will not get that from you.

-----what is a major crisis facing the country.

Fianna Fáil handed it over to private landlords.

All we will get from Deputy Stagg is a rant, obviously. It is pathetic.

An apology would be a good start.

It would nearly-----

People are homeless and all that Deputy Stagg is doing is throwing mud across the floor. It is pathetic.

Hear, hear.

Get-out clauses for landlords.

Deputy Stagg sums up the arrogance of the Government on this issue. He will not even listen to the truth. The reality is-----

We know the truth. Fianna Fáil privatised social housing and handed it over to landlords.

Deputy Michael McGrath is in denial.

Deputies, please.

In my constituency, the rent cap for a family with two children is €725. There is not a house to be had-----

The landlords are Fianna Fáil's buddies, to whom it handed over the sector.

-----for less than €1,200. That gap is not being bridged on a day-to-day basis by the community welfare officer, CWO. The Tánaiste is referring to the tenancy protection scheme that is in place in Dublin city-----

No.

Not at all.

-----and Cork city.

I will pass the Deputy the details.

It is not happening on the ground, Tánaiste. That is the truth.

Here are the figures.

You are the biggest cause of homelessness.

Does Deputy Michael McGrath accept that-----

The Deputy has a question, please, Tánaiste.

Lashing out at landlords will not solve the problem. They will charge what they can. That is the reality.

Fianna Fáil knew that when it handed the sector over to them.

How many landlords are there in the Labour Party?

Was Deputy Michael McGrath encouraging that?

Deputies, please.

Fianna Fáil handed it over to them lock, stock and barrel.

I am sorry, but this is not a debate. This is Question Time.

We support rent certainty.

Deputy Cowen has produced a comprehensive document on the issue. If Government Deputies wish to discuss the record, the reality is that, in 2009, some €670 million was given to local authorities for social housing investment. Last year, the figure was €88 million. There are 4,000 local authority homes still boarded up. I know my own area best. In Cork city and county, there are approximately 700 voids. Under the great announcement from the Minister, Deputy Kelly, this summer, there will be enough funding to bring 200 of those to the market.

There were 2,000 when Fianna Fáil left office.

Two hundred out of 700. That is the truth.

In her response, the Tánaiste ignored the issue of supply, to which I dedicated much of my time when putting my questions to her. Will we examine why the cost of building in Ireland is so high and the funding model? The State's response has been abysmal. At €500 million, it is a Mickey Mouse fund and is still not available. I am being told that it will cost 14% at a time when the State is borrowing at between 1% and 2%.

The Deputy is over time.

It will not work. It is making non-viable projects even less viable. Let us give people some hope. Let us discuss solutions-----

It is a bit late in the day for that.

-----and what can be done with the rent supplement scheme, rent certainty and increasing supply. There are bottlenecks. The situation is only going from bad to worse. It will not improve. Leaking this, that and the other every day about what the Government is considering doing is of no consequence or use to people who are facing into homeless, are homeless or have been ten years on local authority housing lists. Let us deal with solutions.

This is on the Government's watch.

The Deputy's question was long on analysis, but I do not believe that I heard a single suggestion from him.

The Tánaiste did.

He made approximately six of them.

He said that landlords could charge what they liked.

I said that they would charge what they liked. That is the reality.

Please, Deputy.

Fianna Fáil, in its previous incarnation,-----

Here we go. Get out the violins.

-----set the tone for how landlords learned to behave.

Skip the history lesson and give us some solutions.

That was because Fianna Fáil decided sometime around 2000, in conjunction with many local authority managements-----

And Deputy Finian McGrath.

-----that the solution to housing supply issues in Ireland lay almost entirely with the private sector. I do not-----

That is not true.

The Government cut funding by 70%.

Please, Deputy.

I am sorry, but the evidence-----

The Tánaiste is talking through her hat. The Government cut funding by 70%. That is the truth.

The evidence is there.

The evidence is that this Government cut funding by 70%.

Please, Deputy. You asked a question. Do you want a reply? The Tánaiste has the floor.

The Deputy just said that landlords could charge what they liked.

That is not what I said, and the Tánaiste knows it.

Does Fianna Fáil agree with that?

That is not true.

It is what the Deputy said.

I said that they would charge what they wanted and that we supported rent certainty. That is the truth.

I am sorry, but it is what the Deputy said.

Please.

That is what the Deputy said.

Sorry, Deputy. Resume your seat.

The Deputy said landlords can charge what they like.

That is not what I said.

I suggest that Fianna Fáil send a message to landlords who think they can charge what they like, regardless of people at work who are renting-----

They will charge what those in the market will pay. The Tánaiste knows that.

Please.

Sorry-----

They will charge what the market will pay.

Sorry, Deputies.

We have learnt a lot about markets since people like the Deputies acted as cheerleaders for the banks, which caused the banks to collapse, and with it the construction industry.

The banks collapsed themselves.

What is happening at present is that the Government is allocating, out of a recovering economy, a significant amount of capital funding to do a whole series of things. First, it is to reopen the void properties-----

When?

It is not happening.

Four thousand.

-----and second, it will build new houses. There are announcements and allocations to both the Deputy's own local authority and to local authorities nationwide.

One hundred and twenty in County Meath.

Third, approved housing bodies will build houses, and fourth, local authorities will buy houses on the private housing market to house people. It is a four-part solution.

As for the Deputy's specific question about the strategic investment fund, yes, half a billion euro has been allocated to housing in that regard. While I cannot give the Deputy a response now on the exact rate of return required by the strategic investment fund, I will get that information for the Deputy. Because those deals have not commenced, that information has not been available to me or generally available in the public domain. However, I welcome Fianna Fáil's conversion to the notion of rent certainty because, in respect of making progress on policy in Ireland, I refer to getting an agreement from all of the parties in this House to opt for a model based on our experience. Many Members have travelled to or lived in countries such as France and Germany, where there are models.

Do it, so, and we will support the Government.

In addition, there are countries such as Austria, a small country like Ireland, from which models of rent certainty are available. I welcome Fianna Fáil's commitment to put manners on landlords who think they can charge what they like.