The Taoiseach said the last thing he wants to do is to make this problem worse. I would argue that not addressing the underlying problems in the housing crisis is making it worse. It beggars belief how poorly the Government has dealt with the housing crisis. This week, the Children’s Rights Alliance pointed out that in January 2015, 400 families with children had to go into emergency accommodation. How could that figure have reached 700 by August 2015? How has the Government failed so miserably to deal with the problem? The Government is now talking about getting the homeless off the streets for Christmas. It talked about the same thing last year.

And the year before.

The Government has been nearly five years in office but the problems have not gone away. In fact, the housing crisis has got worse.

It is not all on the Taoiseach’s plate. The housing crisis is a result of decades of housing policy that followed the private, free-market version. There is nothing wrong with the private sector making money out of building houses. That is what it does. It is not a crime to make money or lose it. The private sector looks to make a profit on whatever it does. That is accepted.

I see the role of the State as being different, however. Its role is to provide an actual service. The State is not looking to make a profit but to provide homes to people who cannot afford to buy them. For several different reasons, from land-banking to the whole thrust of housing construction, there are significant problems with affordability and homelessness. The Taoiseach can throw all he likes at the housing crisis but he will not solve it until he accepts the fact that we need to build social housing through the local authorities again.

The Government is not actually doing that. Most of the social housing it is planning to provide over the next five years will be through the private sector, not through the State. Why are the local authorities not allowed to borrow money from the European Central Bank at the cheap rates to build social housing like the approved housing bodies? I do not understand the logic of this. Will the Taoiseach explain it to me?

NAMA building 20,000 houses was much trumpeted. Only 10% of this will be social. Why will the Taoiseach not make 50% of this social housing? It should be a mix of social and private, 50% of each, in the same buildings. We have a massive housing problem and the lack of social housing is at the root of the problem. Until the Government addresses that, it will not solve the problem.

The Deputy will never learn.

The Government has put €4 billion on the table for the provision of social housing. The Minister has called in all the local authority chief executives on two occasions. He has stated that they have their targets and they must get on with providing these houses. I expect 200 sites will be opened next year for building social housing all over the country.

In addition, NAMA expects, on the basis of the authorisation given to it by the Minister for Finance, to open 100 sites, most of which will be in Dublin. They will deliver about 80 units once they get started. This should be an addition to the system. As a builder himself, Deputy Wallace knows these cannot be provided overnight. We have to provide for the immediate term, as well as for the longer term.

Deputy Wallace recognises the supply element in dealing with the number of houses is absolutely critical. The fewer housing units, the greater the pressure on existing stock. That is what is causing the pressure in terms of rents. When higher rents are seen on the horizon by landlords, some go after them with a vengeance. We have to deal with this. That is why, unfortunately, there are people staying in hotel rooms and other unsuitable accommodation, as well as people on the street. This is a challenge with which we have to deal.

With all the measures being put in place, I hope we are making progress. We would like to think it could be done much faster, but that is not going to be the way it is. Some €4 billion will be spent on social housing between now and 2020. Instructions and authorisation have been given to get on with the task. Some 200 sites are to be opened. NAMA will provide 100 sites which once work starts will equate to 80 homes a week.

It has not done it and will not do it.

They will be an important addition to the housing stock and alleviate somewhat some of the problems.

There are 3,600 people on the social housing waiting list in County Wexford. The Government's five-year plan provides for the provision of 760 units, less than 100 of which - 20 a year - will be built by the local authorities in the next five years. That will not address the problem. Unless the Government changes its policy, we will see further boom and bust cycles and continue to have an affordability problem, homelessness and social exclusion. We sold the best sites through NAMA to investment trusts from abroad. Kennedy Wilson has just received planning permission to build 160 apartments at Clancy Barracks. It asked that no provision be made for social housing and no social housing is included. What will it do with the apartments? It will rent them out. What will that do? It will drive rents up further. There is a cartel of investors, most of them foreign, who control the rental market. Rents have increased from €1,000 a month for a two bedroom apartment in the city centre to €1,500 a month because the Government has sold half the country.

A question, please.

NAMA has acted ridiculously, given the prices at which stuff has been sold. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, revealed-----

Will the Deputy, please, put his question?

In September 2013 the Minister for Finance said there was only one realistic bidder for and purchaser of Project Eagle. He was admitting that it was not a competitive process. Project Arrow, for which Cerberus has been agreed as the preferred bidder-----

This is Question Time.

Will the Taoiseach consider intervening and not letting Project Arrow go ahead? Will he stall the project and see what units are suitable as social housing? Will he take these units out of the sale and sell the rest of them?

The Deputy is way over time.

It is a non-competitive process.

What is the Deputy's question?

Cerberus-----

Will the Deputy, please, put a question?

Will the Taoiseach stall Project Arrow and examine what units could be used as social housing to address the question of homelessness and affordability in the short term?

That is not the original question the Deputy put.

I again ask the Taoiseach if he will reconsider-----

I ask the Deputy to resume his seat. He is way over time.

Will the Government start building social housing again because that is the only answer to the housing crisis?

As I stated, there are 200 sites to be opened next year for the provision of social housing between now and 2020. I hope that will be a useful addition. Deputy Mick Wallace seems to be implying that the State should tell every local authority to borrow the money to build houses, but it would come back onto the Government's balance sheet.

Not if the Government were to set up trusts.

That is what we are saying.

There is a housing emergency.

NAMA proposes to open 100 sites, most of which will be in Dublin, to provide a significant number of houses. It has always been the case that the State has had the option of taking elements from the NAMA portfolio. The national monument on Moore Street is now a State property and will be developed as a proper and fitting memorial to those who occupied the building after the Rising. Cerberus has been recommended as the preferred bidder for Project Arrow in an independent objective assessment.

The Government is responding to what is a very poor situation. For a number of years, there was no building at all and there were problems with planning and building regulations and in areas that had been rezoned to allow building to take place. This issue concerns eight or nine sectors, all of which have the intention of improving the quality and supply of accommodation. Tenants are under pressure because of a shortage of accommodation and, therefore, rent increases. The Government has put in place a variety of measures to attempt to deal with the issue. I would like to think we could do more quickly.

There are 20,000 on local authority housing waiting lists.