The allegations about NAMA definitely require a commission of investigation, but for now I want to raise my concern about the thousands of people who are homeless across the State, including 2,000 children living in emergency accommodation. These youngsters are growing up and spending their formative years in hotels, hostels and boarding houses. Thousands more are sleeping on settees in friends' houses, on their relatives' floors, in cars and in overcrowded conditions. Tens of thousands of these families are crippled by increasing rents and the constant fear for the future.

My office - I am sure that every Deputy has had this experience - deals with these issues every day. There are landlords who will not respond to a request for a viewing by a young mother with two children when they realise that she will be seeking housing assistance payment, HAP. A male in his late 30s is in a home in overcrowded conditions with a mother and two adult siblings because he cannot afford to rent. Another young male who has lived in private rented accommodation for five years has just been given notice to leave the premises, cannot find other accommodation and is threatened with homelessness. This situation is worsening day by day. Surely this is not acceptable.

The latest Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, rent index report, which was published last week, confirmed what we all knew, namely, that the cost of renting a home is continuing to spiral out of control. At the end of May, the average cost of renting a home in Dublin was almost €1,500 per month, which is more than it was at its highest point in 2007. Outside Dublin, rents are increasing at an even greater rate. In my constituency of Louth and east Meath and depending on who one listens to, rents have increased by either 11% or 14%. All of the reports agree that these are the highest yearly increases in the State.

Families cannot afford to pay rent. This emergency is being compounded by the Government's failure to build social houses, which has created a significant shortage in housing supply and pushed more people into the private rented sector. Until now, the Government has set its face against rent certainty and refused to link rent increases to the consumer price index as many other states have done. Will the Taoiseach reflect on this issue, and particularly on the plight of the families involved? They need our support - we are here to legislate on their behalf - and the Taoiseach's support. The Dáil's Committee on Housing and Homelessness has received repeated calls for the introduction of rent certainty. Will the Government include a commitment to introducing rent certainty as part of its action plan on housing and will it commit to supporting the Sinn Féin Bill that will be before the Dáil this evening?

The general point made by Deputy Adams is one that people will agree with in the sense that the supply of houses is not what it should be, and that is why we have appointed a Minister for housing, planning and local government to deal directly with this area. I have set up a Cabinet sub-committee, which has now met five times and meets again tomorrow.

At each of those meetings, a presentation was given by the relevant Departments with responsibility in this regard, including the Departments of Justice and Equality, Social Protection, Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance and the Department with responsibility for construction, housing and planning. The intention is to draw all the propositions together, including new ones, and have a draft strategy for housing available, presented by the Minister to the Cabinet sub-committee, hopefully, by the end of this month. It would then become a strategy and an action plan to deal with housing.

In respect of Deputy Adams's Private Members' time, and his party's Private Members' business, he is perfectly entitled to put that down but I think, with respect, he is playing politics a little here. The reason I say that is that the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness is due to report this Friday. Yesterday, the Minister for housing and planning spoke to the Deputy's own spokesperson and said: "Let us have the debate if you wish but let us suspend it until such time as the Oireachtas housing committee’s report comes in and is debated here". It can feed into the development of the housing strategy, an action plan being prepared by the Minister for housing for debate in the Dáil and for implementation in terms of the supply of housing. However, the Deputy’s spokesperson was not willing to accept that and resume the debate at a later time. He wanted to have a vote on it. In that sense, Deputy Adams is prejudging the outcome and final deliberations of the Oireachtas committee on housing. He is certainly going off in advance of the Government’s response in terms of a housing strategy and an action plan. That is his right if he wishes to do that.

The Residential Tenancies Board's rent index for quarter one of 2016 shows the rate of rent inflation is cooling, with rents up nationally by 0.5% over quarter four of 2015 and by 0.2% in Dublin. This compares with a growth rate of over 1.6% in quarter four of 2015. It obviously does not deal with a situation whereby the number of homeless people on the streets still increases. It is not acceptable that there are many families in hotel rooms and bed and breakfasts. However, the Government is taking action here not just following the appointment of the Minister but, this morning, it also approved a €200 million infrastructure fund for which local authorities can compete to draw down money to open up access to sites that are currently off limits. Many of these are in the greater Dublin area and have the potential for much earlier investment and action on providing houses. That is the real answer to the problem here.

Deputy Adams is entitled to have his vote. The Government will not be supporting his objective in this instance. There is a great deal of work going on. If the Deputy wants to try to pre-empt it by having a vote, that is his right. However, he could have waited.

The Taoiseach has mastered the arts of hyperbole and understatement all in a few sentences. On the one hand, he says as an understatement that the supply of housing is not what it should be. He has not built any social housing in the whole time he has been in office, or not enough worth talking about, yet he goes on to accuse us of playing politics. He asks why we do not adjourn the debate. Why should we adjourn the debate? This is a question of real people living real lives and in a crisis trying to live their lives. Why does the Taoiseach not support the Bill? On Committee Stage, he could, if he wanted, amend it to suit whatever his position might be.

This is a matter of fairness and the choice between fair rents and being homeless. The Government, in its last manifestation, was very clear about whose side it was on. We hear all the talk about new politics but it is equally clear what side the Taoiseach is now on. There are people who will be homeless by the next time we have Leaders' Questions, which is tomorrow. There will be people who will never be able to own their own homes for as long as this crisis continues. Therefore, I ask the Taoiseach again whether he will commit to the principle of rent control. If not, why not? Could he explain to me why we cannot intervene to ensure there are fair rents for citizens?

The Deputy asked why the debate should be adjourned. The reason the Minister requested the Sinn Féin spokesperson to have a debate but not to push it to a vote was to allow the Oireachtas committee, on which the Deputy's party has members-----

My party proposed it.

-----to produce its report on Friday. The development of the housing strategy on behalf of the Government will, I hope, be available in draft form by the end of this month. The strategy will take into account a range of propositions from the various Departments I mentioned to deal with the very questions the Deputy raises. These include the supply of housing, including social housing, the taking of homeless people off the streets, the provision of proper and adequate accommodation for families that are currently in hotel rooms and bed-and-breakfast accommodation, the issue of rent certainty, which has been dealt with, the changes made by the Department of Social Protection and the increasing numbers of people who are supported by an increased rent subsidy under the relevant scheme with Threshold.

A range of activity is taking place. Sinn Féin wants to make a specific point, as it is entitled to do, and vote on it. The range of work taking place is in the interests of everybody, including Deputy Adams who can make valid comment, constructive or otherwise, on the issues that will be in the action plan and strategy. These are designed to provide 35,000 social housing units, of which 18,000 are to be provided by the end of 2017, with a further 17,000 to be provided by the end of 2020. That is where the action must be. It is not just about talk in here but about making decisions.

The Government made another decision today which will result in €200 million being provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. County councils will be able to compete to draw money from this fund to open up sites to build houses. I am sure Deputy Adams supports this measure.