Now that Fine Gael has allowed the Taoiseach six weeks to make up his mind, perhaps we can get back to priorities and the issues that affect people's daily lives. In the aftermath of Storm Doris, the ESB is working hard to ensure that people have power restored to their homes. We wish it well in that task.

What I want to deal with briefly is people who, unfortunately, do not have homes. I am conscious that there have been many announcements and plans to deal with the challenges facing the housing sector. We gave the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Development, who had the best of intentions and who engaged in a wide-ranging consultative process involving stakeholders - which was fed into by an Oireachtas committee - time and space. We allowed some time to see if what was envisaged could be implemented. Considering the abject failure of the previous plan under the same people in Government, it was always going to be about implementation and we wished it well. It is time that we begin to engage in an honest appraisal of what is being delivered. Records continue to be set in the context of the number of people who are homeless, the cost of rent and the gamut of factors associated with the housing construction sector and the provision of housing. On Monday, Focus Ireland showed that last month a child became homeless every five hours. That is a shameful statistic. We in this House are obliged to seek to remove whatever obstacles are preventing the implementation of any plans that are envisaged. On Tuesday, the Taoiseach waxed lyrical about the fact over 8,500 units are under construction at present.

I lost my head trying to point out to him that this was not true. I do not want to be losing my cool but we have to impart the frustration felt by those who come into my clinic and the clinic of every other Member to the Members in government. Of those units he referenced, only 1,829 are under construction, the rest are going through various stages of the process and the majority were approved more than two years ago. A total of 652 units is all that was built last year. By 2020 the majority of the houses we are talking about will not be built and, at best, the 8,500 units will be built. Many local authorities did not build any houses last year.

The Government seems to be obsessed with announcements in the hope that they will bamboozle people with volumes of details so that they will not see what is going on, but we all are quite aware that progress is not being made.

Time, Deputy.

If I could continue, as it is important that we get back to basics regarding this issue because there has been too much deflection in recent weeks.

The Deputy will get another opportunity.

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, in his recent quarterly report said that 1,000 units would be built this year. That compares to 5,000 units set out in the plan last year.

A Fianna Fáil Dublin county councillor said to me last night that there are 500 acres zoned for residential use that are available for construction that are not being used. Why is that the case when 7,000 people are homeless?

I call the Tánaiste to respond.

Why is the Government not consulting with the credit unions which have €8 billion available that it insists must be left with pillar banks on deposit earning nothing while they are prepared to invest in this sector?

The Deputy is one minute over time. I call the Tánaiste to reply.

A final question-----

No. The Deputy will have another opportunity to raise it.

It is a direct question.

No. I cannot allow this to happen.

The Tánaiste can just tell me why there is-----

The Deputy's time is up.

I ask Deputy Cowen to resume his seat. I call the Tánaiste to respond.

-----500 acres that is available for construction that is not being used.

The Deputy has had three minutes. I call the Tánaiste.

As Deputy Cowen well knows, this country was in an extraordinarily difficult situation just a number of years ago. Yesterday we saw the employment figures again improving and we saw the level of unemployment being reduced to 6.8%, a figure which the Deputy's party said would never be reached, and it also said that the targets in the Action Plan for Jobs would never be reached. That is the position from which the Deputy is coming in terms of his view of the various actions that have been put forward-----

What about housing?

-----but the figures speak for themselves when it comes to employment.

In regard to housing, the approach to it has been spelt out clearly by the Minister, Deputy Coveney. We have more money, more input than ever before and more detailed work with various local authorities to provide housing. We accept the seriousness of the situation. That is why we have a Minister with particular responsibility for housing. The budget in that Department has increased more than the budget in any other Department in order to reflect the seriousness of the crisis. Today, €32 million will be announced to deal with the repair and leasing scheme and local authorities will work around the country to make sure that more properties are available for those in need of housing. Also this week, the four Dublin local authorities have confirmed that we will meet a point that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has said, namely, that children and families will not be using hotels in the Dublin area. It has been confirmed by the four local authorities that this will be addressed by the middle of this year.

We have a targeted social plan. The Deputy spoke about 8,500 units. There are 8,500 social housing units currently being built across the country, with 509 different organisations engaged in different projects delivering those houses. That is real, it is happening on the ground and it is about providing housing. It is about making sure that we can deal with the huge demand for housing that exists. We have new people coming into the country and families looking for housing. We accept the seriousness of the situation. That is why it has been a priority for the Government. That is why the budget is there to deliver and why so many different units across the country, local authority, public and private providers, are delivering those houses.

Just as the jobs have been delivered over the past few years and the target in that regard has been met and exceeded, we will meet the housing targets which have been outlined but this takes time, as everybody recognises. The plans are under way, the money is there, the budget has been allocated and the matter has been prioritised by Government.

Were the Tánaiste aware of or interested in the urgency of this situation, were she as frustrated as everybody else with the lack of real progress, she would ask questions at Cabinet and be aware of the matter and be in a position to answer the question I am asking her. If 8,500 units are under construction, the majority were approved two years ago, and many of them are not even on site yet. I am taking as an example just one local authority area where many would say the crisis is at its worst. Why are 500 acres of zoned residential land in south County Dublin lying idle, with no specific local authority plans to deal with it? These are State-owned lands. Why has the Government not recognised the obstacles preventing these lands from coming to fruition as quickly it should? Why will the Government not consider any authority other than the local authorities and the Department, which have failed miserably in the past number of years? Fine Gael is depending on conventional methods that have failed to deliver a plan it said would be the greatest ever when it was in government last year.

Go raibh maith agat.

The Tánaiste needs to be able to tell me the position. It should be her job to do so and she should do so instantly and as a matter of course.

I call the Tánaiste.

Why are 500 acres lying idle when 7,500 people are homeless and when a child-----

We cannot allow this slippage. I call the Tánaiste.

-----is becoming homeless every five hours of every day?

There has been detailed engagement, as the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has often outlined here, between his Department and local authorities to ensure that housing is built as rapidly as possible. It is worth looking at some of the initiatives that have taken place and have been delivered already. In 2016, 18,380 social housing supports were provided to people, exceeding the target of 17,240, with expenditure of €935 million on housing that year. This is a very positive start to meeting the targets.

There are 500 acres lying idle.

The Deputy talks about whether the Government is meeting the targets that have been outlined. He might now listen to some of the targets-----

There are 500 acres on the Tánaiste's doorstep.

-----that have been met.

The Tánaiste, without interruption.

Under the housing assistance payment homeless pilot in Dublin-----

The Tánaiste does not know.

-----810 stable and supported housing tenancies for homeless individuals were delivered by the end of 2016.

She does not know the answer.

Housing assistance payment has been introduced in nine local authority areas. At the end of 2016, 350 rapid-build homes-----

Does she not know the answer?

-----and, wherever possible, housing was delivered by local authorities and land made available.

Five hundred acres.

As I said, 8,500 units are under way at present.

She obviously does not know the answer.

I call Deputy McDonald, without interruption.