Right across the State, there are 700,000 people living in private rented accommodation. As a result of the housing crisis, the vast majority of them are under immense pressure. In the face of constant rent increases and an absence of supply, they are just about getting by. In truth, many of them are not getting by. Four families become homeless each day. Many more are on the brink. More again live with the constant fear, the constant worry and the constant stress of the prospect of another rent hike. The antics of Fine Gael, and its colleagues in Fianna Fáil, yesterday and today, just before Christmas of all times, has only added to this. Fine Gael has added to the stress and anxiety of those families. Fine Gael has done nothing to alleviate the fears of renters. Fine Gael acts, as ever, only in its own interests. That has been the hallmark of its term in office, one that has been characterised by cynicism, inaction and incompetence. We have had another fine example of that here this morning - Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil playing politics with the roofs over people's heads. Fine Gael calls it "new politics", but it looks like old politics to me. Whatever Fine Gael calls it, I will tell the Tánaiste this much: it is bad politics.

The reality is that struggling renters desperately need relief and certainty. The best and only way to achieve that is to link rent reviews to an index such as the consumer price index. That is not only Sinn Féin's view. It was the view of the cross-party Committee on Housing and Homelessness, including its Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil members. It is a position widely supported by tenancy advocacy organisations, homeless charities and housing policy experts. Instead of supporting hard-pressed tenants by supporting that position, Fine Gael and its friends in Fianna Fáil are now engaged in cynical political games. Despite knowing the detail of the plan brought forward by the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, long before it was launched, Fianna Fáil is now moving desperately to distance itself from that plan, and not out of any concern for renters. It seems that Fianna Fáil just wants to get one over on Fine Gael. The ill-conceived plan that the Government has come up with will heap greater pressure on renters. It will result in unsustainable rents getting further out of control. In simple terms, this means that there will be more homeless families. That is the reality.

The Government's intransigence is motivated, for Fine Gael's part, on a desire to get one over on its partners in Fianna Fáil. That is the real face of so-called new politics - Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil doing their own thing while hard-pressed renters and families are stuck in the middle. I appeal to the Tánaiste to take a step back from this charade and the nonsense surrounding it. I ask that the party-political games stop. I understand that the legislation is to be taken today. In that spirit, I ask everybody to accept Sinn Féin's amendment to link rent reviews to the consumer price index and to give tenants a real sense of security. If the Government does that today, we will support it because that is a real proposal to address the real crisis and would mark an end to the silly party-political games.

The only interest that the Minister and the Government have in respect of this issue is to ensure that we provide a stable and balanced rental market. We want to do that so that we can look after tenants so that they have certainty and to ensure that there is supply. That is what is needed. Stereotyping the response the Government is making to this issue does not get us anywhere. We all have to work together to ensure that we deal with the issue. We have to ensure there is supply. There is no point taking actions that will reduce supply. We want to increase supply and ensure it is maintained. The approach of the Minister has been to do that. What will happen now for tenants is that instead of facing increases of 15% or 20%, these will be limited to a maximum of 4% in the coming years.

As already stated, the reason we have taken this approach is for stability in the market so that tenants can rely on the homes that they are in, that they can manage the increases, that they will not be the kind of increases that we have seen in recent years and that landlords will continue to make homes available to rent. That latter point is important as well. There is no point denying this and saying that we do not want to see people continuing to invest and making homes available to rent. That is important.

We, as a Government, are supporting social housing. There are billions of euro extra going into social housing. We are seeking to increase the supply of social housing by investing €5 billion, we are ensuring, by means of a fund of €200 million, that local authorities can support the development of private housing and we are dealing with a challenging homelessness situation. It is a combination of all of these actions that will stabilise the housing market. As a result of the fact that the economy is improving, we are in a position to do as I have outlined. That is the approach the Government has taken. The description Deputy McDonald has given in respect of these initiatives is inaccurate and stereotypical. It does not deal with the reality of the actions that are needed in order to provide the stability people need.

If the cap fits, the Tánaiste should wear it. If the Government does not wish to be stereotyped as one which is utterly out of touch and utterly indifferent to the struggles of renting families, it should stop behaving in that way. This is not a complex matter. The antics, as they have played out in recent days, confirm for families watching that, when it comes down to it, tenants are not the Government's concern. Fine Gael's political position certainly bothers it greatly - we know all of that - but it is quite prepared to play games on this issue.

Investors in rental property are making a handsome return on their investment. All of the data reflect that. Fear not for the investors. The Tánaiste might consider the renter family which just about makes its rent now. Where will it get the additional 4%? Where will it get the additional 12% over three years? What about those areas, in the commuter belts and elsewhere, that are not part of these stressed zones? What about those families? Has the Government given one moment's consideration to that? No, it has not.

We have.

It seems Fine Gael wishes to give the impression of action involving itself and Fianna Fáil. The way to resolve this is to link rent reviews to the consumer price index. It is transparent, it is fair, it is what will work and it is what the Government would do if it had the interests of tenants and hard-pressed families at heart.

If Deputy McDonald had read the strategy, she would know that the issue in question is dealt with in the context of areas that will be covered by the rent predictability measure.

Sometime in the future.

There is a clear pathway laid out as to how that will be dealt with. The Minister has said that the Housing Agency, having discussed matters with a local authority, will suggest an area for consideration and then the Residential Tenancies Board, which has all the data on rents, will assess whether the criteria apply to the area.

How many families will be homeless at that stage?

That will be done in a speedy and effective way early. In the new year, they will get on with doing that work.

Sure they will.

Far from the description Deputy McDonald has given in respect of the strategy, as I have already said, it is detailed in terms of the security that will be brought and given to both tenants and landlords. It looks at the supply issues and deals with them because we have to increase the supply. It also deals with standards, which the Deputy has not mentioned, and ensuring that these and the quality and management of rental properties and accommodation is kept high. Furthermore, it expands the powers of the Residential Tenancies Board. When one has the combination of those methods, we will arrive at a point where there is greater protection for tenancies, which is what both Deputy McDonald and I want , and where there will be greater stability.

Nero fiddles as Rome burns.

No, action.

I put it to the Tánaiste that both her party and Fianna Fáil have been involved in an utterly despicable and dishonest charade around the issue of rents that impacts upon the well-being of tens of thousands of people affected by the rental crisis.

Precisely 10,000 renters in crisis situations contacted Government agencies between June and December this year, due to plans by landlords to increase their rent on the spurious basis of relatives moving in, plans to sell the house or for some other unjustified reason. The roofs over the heads of these tens of thousands of people are in question, yet this Government and Fianna Fáil engage in an elaborate and despicable charade in which they pretend to be representing the interests of tenants when, in fact, they are arguing about how much profit landlords can make from the misery, anxiety and insecurity of tenants. That is what they are arguing about. The Government fought tooth and nail against bus workers who asked for a 4% annual wage increase and workers who want their pay to be brought back to the 2009 level, but somehow it thinks it is acceptable that landlords, who have already achieved rents in excess of 2009 levels, should have a 4% increase every year for the next three years, bringing already unaffordable rent levels up to the outer stratosphere as far as ordinary workers are concerned given the wages they earn.

I can give some examples. According to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the average rent for a three-bedroom house in south Dublin is €2,280 per month. The average wage is approximately €34,000 per year, with net take home pay per month being approximately €2,400. Already, therefore, approximately 90% of an average worker's income is required to pay for a three-bedroom house in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. The Government thinks it is acceptable to increase that rent by 4% next year, 8% the following year and then up to 12%. How are people supposed to pay that when, at the same time, the Government resists their demands for pay increases, saying they are unaffordable? The Government and Fianna Fáil, which agrees with the Government that this is acceptable, are doing nothing other than catering for and pandering to the insatiable greed of landlords, vulture funds and financial and property speculators, and care nothing for the tens of thousands of people who fear for the roofs over the heads of their children and families. It is utterly shameful.

I repeat that our primary goal is to protect tenants and ensure there is supply in the rental market. The Deputy appears to want the Government to run the private rental market entirely. He should acknowledge that this is a dramatic intervention. It has never been done previously. The goal is to protect tenants. There has never been this type of intervention to provide certainty for the people to whom the Deputy refers. The goal of this policy is to provide certainty to people who are renting. There are 150,000 people renting properties in Dublin and Cork and this is the beginning of a strategy to give them greater certainty. That will be continued with the work of the Residential Tenancies Board, the Housing Agency and local authorities. The goal is to provide certainty.

With regard to the examples the Deputy quoted, clearly the way to deal with that is to have greater supply. We must increase supply to deal with the housing situation. In the amendments on Report Stage, we are seeking to give greater certainty to people who rent. This has never been done before. It is the right thing to do, given the pressures in the rental market. We wish to move ahead today and finalise those amendments so we can provide that. Clearly, however, many other actions must be taken within the housing strategy to increase supply, and I have listed the range of areas the Minister is leading on to ensure a greater supply. The Deputy saw what was in the ESRI report yesterday. The report warned against inappropriate intervention because it would destroy supply. We have no wish to destroy supply for the very people of whom the Deputy speaks. We wish to ensure there is a constant and stable supply, and the actions the Minister is taking, after much consultation and discussion, will lead to that situation. We accept that we must take action, but it must be targeted and efficient and it must work. The Minister believes, having conducted a great deal of consultation very carefully with all of the stakeholders across the system, that this is the right approach so we can protect tenants and maintain the supply that is required for current and future renters.

What tenants did he speak to?

The only certainty the Government is offering is the certainty of unaffordable rents, more evictions and exorbitant, extortionate profits for landlords. The Minister thinks that for people who currently cannot pay existing rents, a 12% increase over the next three years will somehow provide them with some type of comfort or certainty. It will offer them nothing but the prospect of eviction and the complete unaffordability of the most basic requirement of human beings and families, which is a roof over their heads. How the hell is somebody on average earnings or, God forbid, on less than average earnings in south Dublin to pay even the existing average rent of €2,280 per month for a three-bedroom house? Then the Minister thinks it is acceptable to increase the rent by 12%. It is not possible. The Government is trying to square a circle that cannot be squared, which is to get people who are only interested in making profit to provide housing for people whose income is unable to match market prices. The only way it can be done, as we have said repeatedly, is by the State providing local authority, low cost housing. That is what is required, not pandering to landlords' greed.

The Deputy's solution would create further problems for the very tenants of whom he speaks. The supply would dry up if we followed the suggestions he is putting forward. They simply will not work. He presents them as if they are some type of magical solution, but they are not.

I am telling the Tánaiste that they cannot afford those rents.

They will drive people out of the market. The very people who seek rented accommodation will not be able to get it-----

Where will they go?

-----because supply will be a huge problem. We are taking a targeted and careful initiative. The goal is to ensure there will be a stable investment environment to protect the existing stock. We must protect the existing stock of rental accommodation. There is no point taking actions that will not protect that existing stock because if it is not protected people will have to leave that accommodation as it will be sold and they will be unable to stay in it. We simply must deal with that issue. These are targeted interventions to deal with the situation. Of course, other initiatives, including affordable housing, are also key to solving the housing problem and the money has been allocated to ensure they happen. There is a report today that already 18,000 houses have been built this year, which is ahead of all the predictions.

The evictions and hopelessness will continue.