While today's media coverage is dominated by President-elect Trump, I wish to bring to the Tánaiste's attention an issue of a domestic nature that has not gone away - the issue of housing. A few weeks ago two teachers from our constituency approached me. They were concerned about the welfare of two of their students, who are brothers. I met the teachers and subsequently met the family. I will not identify who they are. The parents and six children in this family are living in a hotel in Dublin city. They are commuting daily to Clondalkin to attend school. Their plight living in a hotel is not a good one. There are no cooking or laundry facilities. Their plight has endured since we were elected to this House; they have been in the same hotel since February.

I know that Members of this House from all parties are concerned about the housing crisis and a housing committee was established in advance of the formation of Government. Subsequently the Government produced its report on the housing issue, Rebuilding Ireland - an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. That report was launched four months ago and was specific in regard to a range of actions attached to it. Many Members of this House, while having different views on it, fully support and endorse the report and were concerned that the actions would be implemented as quickly as possible.

I am concerned that we have a lot of rhetoric with launch after launch. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, is launching another pillar of the report today. The implementation of the report is of particular concern to me. It is worth noting that in the four months since the report was launched, according to a report published by daft.ie this week house rental prices in Dublin in particular, but also nationally, have increased significantly. Those in homelessness continue to rise as indicated by the figures that were published. Approximately 2,500 children are in emergency accommodation

The first two actions specified in Rebuilding Ireland - an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness would have an impact on the family I described. Action 1.1 was to provide 1,500 new units under a rapid-build housing programme over a couple of years. Very specifically it indicated that 200 units of rapid-build accommodation would be provided in quarter 4 of 2016. I ask the Tánaiste to update the House on the progress in delivering those 200 units in quarter 4.

Action 1.2 states: "We will transition homeless households and individuals from emergency accommodation through the Dublin Region HAP Homeless Pilot". The target there was to deliver 550 tenancies in quarter 4. We are in quarter 4. The families I represent in our constituency could be the beneficiaries if these actions were implemented in a timely manner. I ask the Tánaiste to update the House on those two specific actions.

Clearly, every Member of this House is very conscious of the huge impact the lack of supply of housing has on individual families, as Deputy Curran has explained. That is why this is a priority focus for the Government and for the Hose. It is why a comprehensive plan has been put forward. Clearly the lack of supply of homes is central to wider problems in the housing sector as the Deputy described it. Lack of supply is driving up prices and increasing rents, and in turn influences homelessness. As the Deputy knows, every action is being taken to ensure that families are not in the situation he has described. None of us here wants to see one extra family having to be accommodated in a hotel. Moving into a hotel is not part of the solution to homelessness and we do not want it to be part of the solution. That is why the announcements have been made and the action has been taken.

The Deputy played a role in chairing the committee that did the preliminary work in examining that. We recognise those very significant challenges. Today the Minister has made a further announcement on the important point we have to deal with - the fast-track delivery arrangements for the 30,000 new homes in Dublin, Cork and other urban locations around the country. Every action under pillar 3 is designed to kick-start badly needed additional supply. A key element, as the Deputy knows, is the identification of the major urban housing development sites with the potential to deliver up to 30,000 additional homes in locations on existing lands, some of them close to our constituency, where there is key demand so that we can ensure that people have housing.

The Minister has spoken about the number of families who have already moved out of homelessness - it is over 1,000 this year. I believe I gave those figures this day last week here. Clearly, fast-track housing is under construction. Over 300 units are at various stages of construction by local authorities and those will be made available to families as soon as possible. The budget to support those organisations working with homelessness has been increased in order to help them ensure every unit they have is available to families. Local authorities throughout the country are ensuring that vacant properties are returned to use in a much more accelerated way than previously. We all know that was a problem, but it is now being done in many areas. The Government has made every effort on the various initiatives the Deputy outlined. It is the unrelenting focus of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to ensure that every unit that can become available will come available as quickly as possible. Every support is being given to local authorities to ensure that happens.

The Tánaiste answered a number of questions I did not ask. Picking up on the point she made, it is important that local authorities are given the additional staff to fast-track and deliver the housing programmes they are expected to do. The Tánaiste referred to vacant properties. Most local authorities are now improving their record in turning them around. However, in the budget the Government failed to deal with vacant properties in the private sector. The Government committed €6 million to deliver 150 properties. There are over 40,000 vacant properties in the greater Dublin area. There is not enough emphasis on fast delivery for those families who are homeless at the moment.

I specifically did not ask about pillar 3. I outlined the case of a family in a hotel for an extended period. I indicated that if the first two actions of pillar 1 were being implemented effectively, the people I represent and referred to would have a far greater chance. The first action was that 200 units of rapid-build accommodation would be provided in quarter 4 of 2016. Where do we stand on that specific commitment? The second commitment related to the HAP homeless pilot, which was to deliver 550 tenancies in quarter 4 of 2016. Those two specific initiatives would address the plight of the family I am asking about. It is not pillar 3 - the long term - but the immediate issues to deal with those people who have been in temporary accommodation for a long time.

I, no more than the Deputy, do not want to see any family spend an extra day in temporary accommodation such as he has described. We all care about every individual and family finding themselves in this situation. That is why local authorities are making every effort to move families, such as the family the Deputy has described, into suitable accommodation.

We need to recognise that well over 1,000 families have already moved out of such accommodation. Of course, other families may move into such temporary accommodation, as the Deputy has described. I do not know the particular factors preventing the family the Deputy described from being offered a home, but many other families in similar situations have moved on from the kind of accommodation the Deputy described. Perhaps he can give me the details of that particular family and I will bring them to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to ascertain-----

There were two questions.

-----precisely what has happened in that particular case. The Minister has put on record here the details of the progress to date. According to what he said here, approximately 300 fast-track housing units are currently under way in the Dublin area.

Some 750,000 people live in the private rented sector. In Dublin one in four households rent. Gone are the days of renting being the preserve of transient students, low income families or those who were saving to buy their first home. Increasingly, the private rented sector is where low and middle income families, and those who are languishing on council waiting lists, spend long periods of time. For three years the rent crisis has spiralled out of control. As the Tánaiste knows, average rents across the State are now €1,000 per month and in Dublin average rents are in excess of €1,500 per month. Rents are now higher than they were at the peak of the boom. In the Tánaiste's own constituency, a family renting a three-bedroom house in Foxborough or in Earlsfort can expect to pay €1,700 per month. That is more than €20,000 per year for an average family home. Low and middle income families who rent are now paying between 40% and 60% of their disposable income on rents. Families relying on rent supplement or housing assistance payment, HAP, are being priced out of the market. A 200% increase in family homelessness in the last two years is directly related to the crisis in the rented sector. Tonight some 2,500 children will spend another night in emergency accommodation, many because of the failures of the Tánaiste and her Government since taking office. The mealy-mouthed measures introduced in 2014 did nothing to stop the spiralling cost of accommodation. When Sinn Féin introduced the Rent Certainty Bill in June, Fine Gael - enthusiastically supported by Fianna Fáil - voted it down. That legislation would have saved hard-pressed families who are renting up to €2,000 per year. The Tánaiste has said that we are pre-empting the Minister, Deputy Coveney's strategy for the private rented sector which is due later this year. Yet, only weeks later the Minister introduced legislation seeking to amend the Residential Tenancies Act. It seems that the Government is happy to pre-empt its own rental strategy so long as it is not helping hard-pressed renters. Struggling families who are renting are crying out for the Tánaiste's help and they have a very simple question. Will her Government introduce emergency rent certainty legislation next week to stop the spiralling costs of rents and ease the burden on these families?

The Government has announced a whole series of actions that we believe will, in the coming period, deal with the situation Deputy Ó Broin outlined. With regard to this massive issue, we recognise it is a hugely significant challenge, brought about by a series of events such as the economic collapse and the particular attitude taken to housing at a particular time, as the Deputy has highlighted. These are all consequences of the very serious economic collapse the State faced. I recognise that each family is looking for a solution, not comments on the general economic situation. I must point out that the Government's priority is to increase supply so the situation described by the Deputy will not be commonplace. We have already taken a series of unprecedented actions on housing, which were necessary and were introduced in the recent budget and previously by the last Government, including budgets being made available, legislation, planning and the fast-tracking of planning. We introduced rent certainty so that tenants had more notice-----

What an outrageous success that was.

-----and information before changes were made so they could have more certainty. The HAP will be introduced in Dublin this year to help families and, as I have already said to Deputy Curran, the various other initiatives which the Minister, Deputy Coveney, announced this morning with regard to pillar 3 of the housing strategy, to make sure that this issue is dealt with.

That was from six years ago.

I take that as a "no".

Of course there are short-term and immediate issues for families but there are also medium-term and the long-term ones. We want to do everything possible to make sure families, who are in the situation described by Deputy Ó Broin, have as much certainty as possible. We have already outlined in the budget a range of ways for more accommodation to become available, whether it is through the rent-a-room scheme or the various tax incentives, as support for those who are in the rented sector. There are serious issues and challenges. It is a priority for the Government and for the Minister, Deputy Coveney. We have a Minister with responsibility for housing for the first time ever and every action that is possible is being taken in the short, medium and long term.

I take the Tánaiste's response as a "no" to the one action I asked her about. Any struggling renter watching this debate can only conclude that she is so out of touch with the pressures that people are facing that she just does not understand. The Tánaiste made reference to 30,000 private sector houses. If that is achieved, the houses will not be tenanted for another two years. She spoke of 300 rapid builds but she must check her notes because there are only 36 rapid builds under construction currently in this city, and the remainder will not start until next year. She also said that the Government would increase the budget, but all it has done is reverse the cuts, which the Tánaiste herself voted for since taking office in 2011. Next week the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Coveney's Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill will be in the Seanad. He could table a rent certainty amendment that would put a halt to spiralling rents. If he does not, one can be damn sure Sinn Féin will table an amendment. Given Deputy Micheál Martin's crocodile tears for struggling renters yesterday, I am sure he will be happy to support our amendment. I will ask the Tánaiste the question again and maybe this time she will stop avoiding it. Will her Government introduce the necessary legislation to give struggling renters a break or will she, for the third time this year, give two fingers to those struggling families and oppose rent certainty?

We are certainly not doing that, and it is disgraceful of the Deputy to say that. Deputy Ó Broin has no monopoly on caring about people who are homeless.

Then vote for the amendment.

Every single Member of this House cares about the homeless situation.

Show it by your actions.

Can we have order please for the Tánaiste?

That is why this is a priority for us.

Actions speak louder than words.

Actions have been taken to address this situation. I remind the Deputies that we inherited an unprecedented situation with regard to the economy. If the previous Government and this one had not taken action and done what was done to rescue this economy, there would be no money to invest in the kinds of services needed, including housing. That is what we have done. We have made sure that we can now invest in the very serious social issues that have arisen as a result of the mismanagement of this economy. Sinn Féin might acknowledge that occasionally and the fact that the economy is recovering from a very dark place.

For private landlords.

Not for struggling renters.

I call on Deputy Brendan Howlin.

It is not recovering for struggling renters.

Will Deputy Ó Broin control himself please?

I will do my best.