In response to the unprecedented housing crisis which we are experiencing, I believe we are seeing the emergence of a grassroots campaign with large numbers of people increasingly saying enough is enough about the Government's failure to address this most basic issue. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is spearheading the Raise the Roof campaign, which is supported by many housing charities, non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and several Opposition parties. In addition to that, over recent weeks we have seen a great number of young people mobilised under the banner of "Take Back the City". These are people who were protesting about the large volume of empty properties that we have in Dublin and in other cities.

These are predominantly young people who can be described as the locked-out generation. They are locked-out of the prospect of having independent housing, whether to rent or to buy. This young generation finds it impossible to access housing. Rents nationally are now 27% above the boom-time high. In Dublin, rent for a one-bedroom apartment, for example, for a single person represents over 50% of their take-home pay. It is entirely unsustainable. This is where much of the pressure is coming from for wage increases and the complaints about the cost of living. People simply cannot afford housing any longer and they certainly cannot afford rent. We are now in a never-ending upward spiral when it comes to rent. It seems the Government's measures to date have largely been ineffective.

As well as the unaffordability of rent, this crisis is in turn having two other major impacts. It is clearly driving the homelessness crisis. It also means homeownership is largely unattainable due to the impossibility of saving while paying high rents, especially in a situation where so much housing is completely overpriced. Earlier this week the Social Democrats called for an emergency two-year rent freeze.

We believe that this would at least stop the spiral but the Government has rejected this proposal. At a time when the availability of rental properties is at an all-time low, it is galling for people to get this kind of weak response from Government. Why will it not consider, as an emergency measure, introducing a freeze on rents so that there would be at least a bit of breathing space to allow some other measures to kick in? Can the Tánaiste explain his thinking in this regard and what exactly is his argument against a rent freeze?

The Deputy has raised a lot of questions there and I would like to spend a lot of time answering them because this is a brief with which I am very familiar and in which I am still very involved. To answer her direct question regarding a rent freeze, I do not think it is a good idea, not because I do not want to introduce measures that provide relief for renters but because the core of the problem is a lack of supply. We looked at this issue when I was the Minister with responsibility for housing and we decided, for the first time in the history of the State, effectively to introduce rent caps in Ireland, which now apply to about 65% of all rental properties in the country, whereby there is a limit of no more than 4% of a rent increase per year linked to those properties enforced by the system. We went through a long consultation process with all stakeholders listening to people who were under pressure in terms of their rent but also listening to people who want to invest in the rental market to provide more rental properties. We should not be making short-term decisions now that seem popular but which actually contribute significantly to limiting supply. Instead we need an appropriate response where rents are high to keep a cap on rental inflation, which is what is happening with rent pressure zones. That is getting the balance right between ensuring that while we build much more social and affordable housing and while the private sector also delivers much more housing, including affordable housing, we continue to see that momentum for supply growth and that we do not shut it off by introducing dramatic measures that will undermine the confidence in the willingness to invest in the property market.

The Deputy is now calling for a rent freeze across the country even in parts of it where rents are not particularly high. We need to target areas where there is real heat and pressure. That is what rent pressure zones and the criteria relating to them do and we know that it is working from the statistics. The real problem in this market is supply. We are addressing the supply issue but it is going to take some time because we cannot build houses overnight. We need to protect renters as we are doing and as we will continue to do while the pressure is as it is, but we also need to ensure we deal with the supply challenge because, ultimately, that is the solution.

Supply is an important issue but what the Government is completely ignoring is the issue of affordability. There are measures available to it to address the issue of affordability but, unfortunately, it is dodging those because it is too reliant on the market and is not prepared to intervene to the extent that it will make a real difference in people's lives. The Tánaiste, as the person who introduced the rent caps and rent pressure zones, knows perfectly well that they are of limited effect. They do not apply right around the country. In Limerick, for example, rents went up by 21% last year alone. In Waterford they went up by 19%. The Tánaiste knows there are plenty of loopholes in those measures which enable landlords to dodge their responsibilities. They are not effective in the way that I believe he intended and he should face the reality that they are not effective.

The Tánaiste also talked about the willingness to invest. There is not a willingness on the part of many developers to invest because they are sitting on landbanks waiting for prices to go up further, aided and abetted by the Government. The Tánaiste knows that rent pressure measures are not working. The derelict sites register is at a meaningless 33% in terms of vacant properties. The vacant site levy, introduced by Deputy Kelly when he was Minister, is not effective. In a situation where property values are going up so much and house prices are going up by 10%, what difference does a 3% levy make? It is time for meaningful action and less of the talk.

It is time for action and less talk and that is why we are implementing the Rebuilding Ireland plan, which is a five-year housing plan that is working. The Deputy said the vacant site levy is not working but that has only just started. It does not work overnight.

Exactly. Why was it not brought in a few years ago?

We cannot retrospectively correct things from two years ago. We are setting about-----

It is all a softly, softly approach with the Tánaiste.

Will the Deputy allow the Tánaiste to respond?

The Deputy does not want to hear the answers - that is the problem - because she wants to keep talking about the problems. The Government recognises that there are huge pressures on the housing market and that is impacting on families right across the country but, in particular, in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and in other areas. We are setting about fixing those. There are specific responses around homelessness that are getting more and more money and resources, and that is what is needed, and a change in policy shifting towards Housing First models and so on, which we know are working.