On 3 October the National Homeless and Housing Coalition, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, housing non-governmental organisations, NGOs, such as the Peter McVerry Trust, Simon Communities and Focus Ireland and housing activist groups such as Take Back the City and many others are calling for a major national demonstration at Leinster House to demand emergency measures to deal with the spiralling housing crisis. The protests follow the magnificent protests of mostly young people in the Take Back the City movement who have occupied scandalously empty residential properties that could be used for housing to highlight the obscenity of people suffering from homelessness. Let us be clear: they are not protests for the sake of protesting, rather they are driven by intense frustration at the Government's continued policy of relying on speculators, vulture funds and corporate landlords to resolve a housing crisis that the very same people created in the first place, a failed policy that continues with the Land Development Agency initiative, the continued sale by the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, of public land, including the former Player Wills factory site, and scandalously section 110 tax reliefs whereby billions of euro are going into the pockets of vulture funds, the local infrastructure housing action fund, LIHAF, and Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, whereby we are financing private developers to build, in some cases, on public land, run away with the profits and charge astronomical rents and property prices, while all the while obscene profits are being made as the housing crisis gets steadily worse and the human misery it causes continues.

The protestors are demanding a change in policy. They are saying: stop selling public land to vulture funds and speculators, start an emergency programme to build public and affordable housing on public land, introduce rent controls, adopt robust and aggressive measures to go after empty residential properties where there is no justification for a property lying empty when it could be used to house those who need housing, stop evictions into homelessness - nobody should be evicted into homeless - and establish a constitutional right to secure affordable housing.

Does the Taoiseach think that rather than seeing paramilitary policing methods, with men in balaclavas, used against peaceful housing protesters - young protesters, in the main - some of whom were hospitalised such was the aggression used against them during the protests, and recognising that his policies have failed to address the deepening housing crisis, he might listen to the demands of the protesters? While he is at it, will he repudiate the unbelievable suggestion made by the Minister for Justice and Equality that gardaí should no longer be recorded in the conduct of their duties when it would amount to censorship of the press and the public in the context of their right to oversight of the heavy-handed policing tactics we saw used on North Frederick Street?

Protests will not build houses-----

Exactly, no.

-----but the Government will. The private sector will also build houses.

When?

Not quickly enough.

Ultimately, that will be the solution to the problem. As I said earlier, protests are part of a healthy democracy and welcome. However, they should be peaceful and occur in accordance with the law. I hope the Deputy will use the opportunity presented by his supplementary question to echo that sentiment-----

It goes both ways.

-----that protests should be peaceful, that there should be no violence and that protests should take place in accordance with the law. There are no Government proposals to restrict people in taking photographs or making videos. That would be a restriction of free speech and not something I would support.

The Taoiseach should tell the Minister that.

I reassure people - press photographers, individual citizens and protestors - that there are no Government proposals whatsoever to do so. I also hope that in his supplementary question Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett will affirm his view that peaceful protest is the type of protest we should have and that protests should happen in accordance with the law and that he will take the opportunity to condemn any abuse of gardaí-----

Hear, hear.

-----including racist abuse and name calling.

I hope Deputy Boyd Barrett will take this opportunity to condemn anyone who seeks to identify and intimidate online the members of the Garda Síochána. That is not the kind of behaviour that should happen in a decent society or a healthy democracy. Gardaí are people who put their safety on the line to defend our democracy, to protect our freedoms, to keep us safe and to police our communities. They deserve our support. I hope that Deputy Boyd Barrett would use the opportunity of his supplementary question to reaffirm his commitment to ensuring that protests are peaceful, that they happen in accordance with the law, and that gardaí are not subject to verbal or physical abuse in any way whatsoever.