I attended a meeting this morning in the Mansion House at which trade unions, political parties and housing NGOs gathered to express their frustration at the failure of Government policies to live up to the programme for Government commitments to provide affordable, quality and accessible housing for all as a priority and to work with others with good ideas. The gathering, which included some of the leading NGOs, some of the biggest trade unions and many of the political parties announced a major national demonstration on 7 April to try to pressure the Government to abandon failed policies of relying on the private sector. What I and everyone at that meeting wants to know is when will the Government deliver on its commitment in the programme for Government to work with others. People across the spectrum of groups working with housing have consistently said that the policy of relying on the private market, which the Government is depending on, is not working. CSO figures today show an 86% increase in property prices accompanied by an 80% rise in rents.

The Deputy is over time.

Will the Taoiseach admit the policies have failed and listen to those who are now gathering to protest against the Government's policies?

I thank the Deputy. We have been working with stakeholders, housing bodies and NGOs who are our partners in the voluntary sector to end the scourge of homelessness. We do not rely on the private sector. This year we will support more than 21,000 new social housing tenancies. We will well outstrip the targets we have for this year. A portion of that will come from housing assistance payments, thereby relying on the private rental market but we will see a dramatic increase in the number of houses built, acquired or long-term leased into social housing stock by the Government. If we look at the last two years of the Rebuilding Ireland action plan, 2020 and 2021, more houses will be built, bought or long-term leased by the State into State stock. We will not be relying on HAP to meet the social housing needs of people who need our help. We are not relying wholly on the private sector. We have a mix of solutions. The most important thing is to get people into secure tenancies and that is what we are doing as a Government.