The housing crisis continues to get worse. When Deputy Coveney was Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in 2016, he said that it would get worse before it gets better and, unfortunately, he has proven to be correct. The number of homeless families has increased by 26% while the number of homeless children has increased by 30% in the last year alone. The bottom line is that there are far from enough social housing units being built, there are no affordable purchase or rental schemes and the barriers to construction have not been taken down. The media have been inundated with figures from the Government relating to the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. These are nothing more than temporary stopgaps but they are now being trotted out as semi-permanent solutions. Rent costs are going into a different stratosphere, especially in Dublin. Young professionals and tradespeople are living at home with their parents, if there is room. HAP is masking the real picture. I know of one family in Galway that has been on the housing waiting list for nine years. They are 80th on that list but no social houses were built in 2016 or 2017 in Galway. That was at a time when the Government was telling us to keep the recovery going. Young working adults between 25 and 40 cannot afford to rent or save to buy a home. These people are in addition to the 91,000 people on waiting lists, as well as those who are on HAP and RAS. The latter schemes, as I have said, are temporary stopgaps but participants in those schemes are not on the housing waiting lists. They are on a transfer list that goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, on Monday the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, claimed that the Government had exceeded its housing targets. That has to be one of the most cynical pronouncements in a while and there has been plenty of them. The Minister failed to explain that he moved the Government's targets and reduced them by 25%. He told the Dáil last October that the Government's target was to build 3,200 social homes in 2017. On Monday he claimed the Government had exceeded the target that was set at 2,400. The bottom line for Fine Gael in Government is that it is trying to blind people with announcements and pronouncements while not providing new homes. There are no homes being built in communities throughout the country where they are needed. That is the statistic that people can see for themselves.

When will the spinning cease? When will the Government start delivering affordable and social homes rather than relying on what are meant to be temporary stopgaps? When will it honour the commitments to provide significantly more social homes, to provide affordable rental and purchase schemes and to remove the barriers to private sector construction?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue which is undoubtedly one of the major challenges that we face as a country. Having been through the crisis that we experienced, we know for a fact that it was the phoney boom in property and housing that brought that crisis upon us. It is not entirely surprising, therefore, that the most difficult sector to fix is the one that dragged us down, namely, the housing sector. I reject the Deputy's suggestion that the Government is not serious about this issue. The Government is committed to getting housing supply back on track. The Deputy rightly points to social housing as an area which was neglected by his own party in Government and subsequently. The situation in respect of social housing is that in 2016, only 650 social homes were built but in 2017, that number more than trebled to 2,245 units. There is a strong social housing pipeline in place, with 190 sites open and almost 4,000 units under construction. There is a real, sustainable change in the social housing programme. It is the Government's intention that 33,000 social homes will be built. Last year a total of 7,000 new social homes were made available through acquisitions, the restoration of voids and new leases. That was substantially ahead of what was achieved in 2016, which was just over 5,000 social housing units. Real and sustainable progress is being made.

In respect of creating a more affordable market, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, announced in the budget a series of measures designed to support the private sector in getting to grips with building. These measures include using the experience and ability of NAMA and providing an additional fund of €750 million. In addition, there have been interventions to help individual families to get a deposit together so that young families can start to access homes. Indications from recent figures are that we are seeing, at last, more young starter families getting access to new homes and that is a positive development.

I would be the last to suggest that this problem is solved. However, I recall that when I was seeking to address the unemployment issue, we set the target of 100,000 jobs and many said that it was not realistic and that we were not making progress quickly enough. We put in place a systematic plan containing a lot of different measures that changed the performance and we see the positive consequences of that, with fantastic employment numbers in the country now. I believe that the measures being put in place will solve this problem but we must be absolutely committed to getting quicker responses not only at national level but also at local government level. Each and every local authority has a responsibility to deliver on this programme.

I thank the Minister for his response and for correcting the discrepancies in last Monday's announcement and for confirming that only 2,200 new social homes were made available. There was nothing wrong with the Government's targets, its plan or the work that went into devising that plan. The issue was always going to be implementation, and the slow pace and lack of urgency is all too obvious. The Government is way behind its own schedule and targets. It is my job and duty to represent those who have given me the privilege to be here and to lay on the table the Government's failings. A total of 1,500 rapid-build units were to be provided but only 75 have been completed. The Minister made reference to acquisitions.

In many of those cases the people who left the homes could not afford to stay in them. They had to move out of their homes and go on waiting lists. The local authorities then took others off the waiting lists and put them into these homes.

The Government has also failed in the area of supply. It has failed by relying on old and tired systems that are not up to scratch and do not meet the demands placed on them. Land identified many years ago by local authorities and the State has not been acted on.

Ceist, a Theachta.

It is taking too long to develop land where planning permission has been secured and no objections have been received. Procurement is also taking too long. I could name many sites in my constituency and others that were identified three years ago and for which planning permission has been granted but nothing has been built.

The Minister to respond.

The Government keeps going back for more. There is nothing new. The Minister referred to the €750 million announced in the budget in competitive finance. That would help, but it has gone nowhere.

The Deputy has had two minutes.

It is another example of an announcement or pronouncement that solved the problem for the day that was in it in the hope people would walk away without getting responses. The Government needs to do this differently.

Please, Deputy.

A new sense of urgency is required. The Government needs to do things differently in order to get results.

The Deputy has exceeded his time by one minute.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his forbearance on this most crucial issue facing the country.

I agree that it is crucial and think we need to have an honest debate. Last year 25,892 families were assisted into social homes under the housing assistance payment scheme or by way of social provision. That was a massive increase on the 19,000 families who had received such assistance the previous year. Solutions are being provided for families, although the Deputy might not agree. Every time we deliver on a target, he denigrates it and says we should be addressing another one.

Is that a permanent solution?

Last year there was an almost fourfold increase in the number of social homes constructed and delivered.

Whoopee.

We doubled the target number of voids to be delivered into the social housing stock and used as homes by families. We are making real progress in all of these areas. We have accelerated the planning process for housing supply by the private sector. As the Deputy knows, developments of more than 100 units can proceed directly to An Bord Pleanála.

The Government has not staffed An Bord Pleanála.

We have made it easier for builders to build apartment complexes.

This is nothing new.

Easier provisions are in place to contend with the real shortage of apartments. We are taking initiatives across every area where initiatives can be taken. We have provided rent zones to control rents. We are continuing to look at the residential tenancies legislation to ensure it is up to speed. We want to ensure these provisions are not abused by landlords. A systematic programme is in place. The Government is attaching huge urgency to this matter.

I ask the Minister to conclude as the same rules apply to him.

There will be a further meeting of all stakeholders to make sure we are acting to the best of our ability in every area.