As Taoiseach may be aware, I am a member of the Committee of Public Accounts. At last Thursday's meeting, we heard from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in respect of the current housing crisis and the related figures for 2018. The Secretary General of the Department, Mr. John McCarthy, attended the meeting and, in reply to a question I posed, he stated quite categorically that the figures were clear for the breakdown of council properties, so-called turnkey properties, regeneration properties and rapid-build or modular homes, as they are known. He went on to state the Department publishes quarterly updates in this regard and rejected allegations of spin in respect of the presentation of the figures. According to the 2018 social housing output figures under local authority build, the number is listed as 2,022, but the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has bundled all of those categories and has consistently refused to give a breakdown of local authority build by individual category. At the meeting of Committee of Public Accounts last week, however, in response to questions I posed, the Secretary General finally provided a breakdown of the figures for 2018. There were 768 turnkey units and 200 regeneration properties, which leaves a total of 1,054 newly built local authority houses for 2018.

Why was there a continued blurring of numbers by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. A number of weeks ago he appeared on "Morning Ireland" and, when asked for a breakdown, stated the figures would be available the following week. They have yet to materialise outside of the Committee of Public Accounts, they are not on the Department's website, and they have not appeared in press releases. On "Morning Ireland", Gavin Jennings grilled the Minister extensively and asked for a breakdown but those questions went unanswered. The Tánaiste and former Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, stated at one point that the Department was the most transparent Department, and the introduction to the release of the 2018 figures makes strong claims as to its transparency, but we have received the very opposite of transparency. Could it be that the reason for the reluctance to provide a breakdown of figures is that some individual councils are performing poorly? It has been said that Dublin City Council, for example, which is at the epicentre of the crisis, built only 21 houses last year. Could it otherwise be a matter of red tape? We need to know.

Will the Taoiseach provide some straight answers to the following questions? Will he confirm that the figures for new builds by local authorities, given to the Committee of Public Accounts by the Secretary General last week, are accurate? Is it correct that Dublin City Council built only 21 units in 2018? What is the breakdown by local authority of the 1,054 new builds in 2018?

I understand the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government is appearing before a committee today, answering questions on the matter, and has produced those numbers for the committee. More than 18,000 new homes and apartments were built in Ireland last year.

That is the highest number in any year for a decade and we will do better again this year. We have to because of the substantial demand for housing. The housing stock was increased by approximately 9,000. The Deputy is right that some councils are performing better than others, which I do not think the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, would deny for one second. He has been complimentary of some councils that have delivered on the issue of housing, but he has been critical of others that have not done so. People have been wrong to be critical of him. He was right to do so because there is a difference in performance and we should not be afraid to compliment the local authorities which do well and call out those which perform poorly. I guarantee the Deputy that the Minister is not afraid to do so.

I disagree with the Deputy on what I believe is a bit of an obsession with the different ways in which social housing is categorised. We increased the social housing stock by 9,000 last year. There are many ways to provide social housing. I have had the pleasure and privilege as Taoiseach and a Minister of travelling around the country to hand out keys to people being given a new home for the first time.

When did the Taoiseach hand out keys?

I have seen the joy on their faces when that happens. Nobody ever said to me it was Part V housing, or that it had been built by Clúid or the Peter McVerry Trust and not by the local authority and that they did not want it.

They would like to have the option of owning it someday too.

Nobody ever said he or she did not want a nice new house in Waterville in my constituency because it had been bought directly from a developer and had not been built by Fingal County Council. No real person who receives a social house ever says that to me.

What is an unreal person?

What they want is a home with security of tenure. There are many ways to achieve this. Local authorities can build social housing as they used to do in the 1950s and 1960s.

I did not know that the Taoiseach was giving them out to the dead too.

It can be done through the affordable housing bodies such as Clúid, the Peter McVerry Trust and the Iveagh Trust which do a great job. It can be done under the Part V system, under which a certain amount of houses in a new estate are set aside as social housing. It can also be done by direct purchase. Why is it bad that local authorities buy derelict and unused houses in rural areas to bring them back into use? It is good and can be done by way of a long-term lease.

The problem is that they are not doing it.

What matters is that last year 9,000 families, more than the number in any of the last ten years, moved into social housing in secure tenancies. We should not obsess about whether it is done through an affordable housing body, a local authority or a trust or under Part V, Part 8 or section 26. That is not what matters.

We need the figures and I want the Taoiseach to come back and give me the one for which I have asked. Does "turnkey" refer to the signing of contracts or the keys provided? We do not know. We do not know the comparison between what is cost effective, value for money and what works. We need to get the breakdown in order that the information can be evaluated. This is public information and public money. Why is the Taoiseach so reluctant to give the figures in a way that will break it down in order that comparisons can be made? Is it true that Dublin City Council only built 21 houses last year? The performance of the local authorities matters because if we are to deliver the numbers of houses needed to get a grip on the crisis, the local authorities will have to deliver. The Taoiseach cannot keep answering questions in the way he has. The breakdown matters and I want him to answer the question based on it. It has to be given. It is not acceptable that the Taoiseach is skimming over the question I asked.

I am advised by the Minister of State that the figures are available. As I have seen breakdowns, I imagine that that is correct and that they are available. I think the Deputy has got it wrong. The truth is that after years of running into problems and delays when we did not have the money to do it, we are now delivering on the issue of social housing. We increased the social housing stock by 9,000 last year.

The homeless figures are going up.

We will increase it by even more this year.

There is only one problem: it is getting worse.

As the Deputy does not want people to know that-----

The Taoiseach is getting better and the problem is getting worse.

-----she is trying to make out that housing provided by an affordable housing body such as the Peter McVerry Trust or the Iveagh Trust or under the Part V mechanism does not exist.

No, I did not. I asked-----

They are real houses with real people in them.

Real houses for real people.

Last Friday I had the pleasure to be in Dundalk where 120 new social homes are under construction and will soon be occupied.

Hand out the keys.

It was not done directly by Louth County Council but through an affordable housing body - Clúid. The county manager, the politicians and representatives of Clúid were there. Everyone worked together, using taxpayers' money to deliver social houses for people who needed them, but the Deputy is trying to say they do not count.

What is the point?

I think the Taoiseach is in a parallel universe.