Since the last general election we have been subject to the concoction that is the confidence and supply deal between the Tánaiste's party and Fianna Fáil. Last night the leader of Fianna Fáil confirmed that he has once again bent the knee to renew Fine Gael's deal for another year. On the one hand he is quite happy to come to the House and criticise the Government week in, week out for the Government's very obvious failings. On the other hand he and his party, through the confidence and supply deal, are keeping the Tánaiste and his Government in office. It is a nonsensical position and we hear some of it again this morning.

When it was cobbled together in 2016 the confidence and supply deal was heralded as a new beginning of new politics. It has been anything but. It has proved to be a political con job, designed to allow Fianna Fáil the pretence of being in opposition while it is actually in government in all but name. I believe it has been bad for politics, but more importantly it has been bad for citizens, not least the tens of thousands of citizens affected by the housing and homelessness crisis.

Rents and house prices are out of control and continue to rise. We see it time and again and I have raised the issue in this Chamber over and over. It is borne out in the Residential Tenancies Board rent index, which was published this morning. It shows that the national average rent is now €1,122 per month. In Dublin the average monthly rent is now a staggering €1,620. Not a single affordable home to rent or buy has been delivered by the Government over the past three years. An entire generation of young people face the prospect of never owning their own home. Under Fine Gael's watch homelessness has reached unprecedented levels, with some 10,000 people homeless. Scandalously, 4,000 children will spend their Christmas in emergency accommodation this year. We are aware that the real number of those who are homeless is a lot higher, closer to the 13,000 figure, as highlighted by my colleague, Deputy Eoin Ó Broin. I put it to the Tánaiste that this is a scandalous record. It is a record that Fianna Fáil seems happy to endorse. What has that party got from these so called negotiations? Absolutely nothing. That is not surprising because together Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have voted down Sinn Féin's proposals for real rent certainty.

We voted for 1,000-----

Fine Gael opposed our proposal to introduce tax relief for renters and, along with Fianna Fáil, has continuously voted down the Focus Ireland amendment that would stop landlords evicting families into homelessness. Shame on both parties.

We need real and meaningful action to tackle the housing crisis. We need a change in direction and we need that change fast. Now that the Government has the backing of Fianna Fáil for at least another year what are Fine Gael's plans to tackle the housing crisis? What is the plan to deal with the spiralling rents and the fact that many homeless families will now spend their third Christmas in a hotel?

The extension of the confidence and supply arrangement points to the difference between the approach of Deputy Pearse Doherty's party to politics and the approach taken by my party and the main Opposition party, which recognise that the State is vulnerable right now. We do not know what decisions will be made in Westminster in the coming weeks, but we have recognised that the challenge we may face as a Parliament and as a country in the first quarter of next year and throughout 2019 will require all of us to work together. To its credit, Fianna Fáil has recognised that. It has said that in 2019, in the midst of Brexit preparations, Ireland does not need a general election. I am glad to say that because of responsible politics from the two biggest political parties in the State the kind of political uncertainty and carnage that is happening in Westminster right now is not going to be replicated here. This does not mean that Fianna Fáil will not be in opposition putting us under pressure on housing, health reform and a whole range of other issues-----

Will the Tánaiste say that with a straight face?

-----and that is already catered for. The Deputy may smile but the only contribution that Sinn Féin is making, for example to the discussion on Brexit right now, is to call for a border poll to make tensions even more acute in Northern Ireland than they already are. This Sinn Féin contribution is supposed to be constructive towards the national challenge we face right across the island. While confidence and supply is an unusual arrangement and is difficult for parties that are competitive with each other, right now it is responding to the national challenge that people outside this House expect us to respond to with maturity and competence. That is what the extension of the confidence and supply arrangement will be about. It does not mean that we will not be battling in this House on a whole range of policy areas or that Members will not be keeping the Government under pressure, which is as it should be.

What about the challenge of homelessness?

We have spent a lot of time talking about housing in the context of the confidence and supply talks.

Too much talking.

We have a five year housing plan in train and we are meeting targets. We are delivering on output, which is the core problem. Supply is the problem in the rental market, in the house purchase market and in social and affordable housing. In all those areas we are taking forward our plans and we are delivering increases of supply across every sector. This is as it should be. We should be kept under pressure and scrutinised on delivery in that area, and so we will be through 2019.

Let there be no doubt that we will keep the Government under pressure and we will scrutinise it because we are the real Opposition in this House.

The Deputy has lost the run of himself.

The Tánaiste talks of vulnerability and carnage, but the vulnerable people I speak of are those 4,000 children in emergency accommodation. Disgracefully, many of them-----

What about the homeless situation in Northern Ireland, Pearse?

-----will be waking up on Christmas Day in a hotel, for the third year.

The Deputy is being hypocritical.

This is the carnage that has been left behind by the confidence and supply arrangement. I have asked the Tánaiste what the Government is going to do about spiralling rents. In Dublin it is €1,692 more expensive to rent a house now than it was this time last year. Not a single affordable or cost rental house has been delivered by the Tánaiste's Government or by the confidence and supply arrangement over the last three years.

Sinn Féin voted them down.

This is more of the status quo. The Tánaiste talks of proposals. The Focus Ireland amendment was a sensible proposal. It provided that landlords who received tax reliefs should not be allowed to evict people into homelessness. Who in God's name could refuse to accept that? I will say who. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil could, and shame on them for doing so. The people for whom they shed crocodile tears have been put into emergency accommodation because, as legislators, those two parties have failed to accept those proposals and failed to do the responsible thing by supporting amendments that have come before the House.

Can the Tánaiste give any succour or comfort to those who cannot afford a house, who cannot afford their rent and who are living in emergency accommodation that anything will change over the next year or 18 months?

Things are changing but I know they need to continue to change quickly. There are far too many families in emergency accommodation. There are far too many children in emergency accommodation, some of which is not as good as it should be in the context of hotel rooms, this year. I recognise this as a former housing Minister and as a Tánaiste. We are working night and day to change this. That is why this year we will supply social housing solutions to more than 25,000 people and their families. We will continue to accelerate that. We are dramatically ramping up the delivery of social housing. This year we will provide more than 8,000 extra social houses throughout the State through various mechanisms. Next year it will probably be more than 10,000 and the following year it will approach 12,000. That is where we are going. We have a multi-billion euro programme to deliver it. We have also agreed with Fianna Fáil an affordable housing programme to which we have committed €300 million.

There are actions in train. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, will soon introduce new legislation to provide further protections for tenants and to empower the RTB even further. We know from the RTB's report this week that the measures we have implemented to date in respect of rent controls are having a positive impact.

No they are not. We have the highest rent increases in Dublin since 2015. Read the report. The rate is 9.5%.

Rents are going up.

I call Deputy Howlin.

The Deputy does not want to listen to the RTB.

The Tánaiste is misleading the House. We have the highest rent increases in Dublin since quarter 1 of 2015 and to suggest that the Government's measures are working-----

Deputies only get one supplementary.

-----is ridiculous.

The Deputy should be told that this House is not a theatre.

Time is up. We are moving on. I call Deputy Howlin.

Let me quote the RTB. I am being accused of misleading the House.

Well, the Tánaiste will have to find another way.

The RTB states very clearly that the results indicate that rent pressure zones are slowing the pace of increase.

I call Deputy Howlin.

Slowing the pace. The rate of increase 9.5%. The rate of increase in respect of apartments in Dublin is 12%.

I am implementing the Standing Orders to which all Members have agreed. Three minutes are three minutes and one minute is one minute. There are others who want to pose questions later and we will be running out of time before we reach them. I call Deputy Howlin, who I know will abide by the time limits.