I have been a Deputy for almost four years. I have repeatedly told the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy English, that the vacant housing numbers, both rural and urban, are at most one in 12. Any Deputy who canvasses will verify that statistic. The system is flawed. I ask the Minister to appoint a dedicated housing officer and to carry out a pilot project in my county. County Louth was previously successful in leading the charge with compulsory purchase orders. I have spoken to several housing officers in different parts of the country who have verified nobody is on the ground identifying vacant properties. They rely on people to inform them that a particular property is vacant. I want there to be an officer who will go door to door, like people who are currently canvassing, and identify vacant houses, many of which are owned by the banks. The properties are not being used, often because their owners are waiting for the market price to continue to rise. I challenge the Minister to appoint somebody to do that job in Louth County Council. We will show the Minister he was wrong in his approach to vacant housing.

The delivery of social housing is happening far too slowly. I have some examples of individual cases, although I am sure the Minister has dealt with similar cases. A couple with a seven year old child, sharing a house with their parents and four siblings, one of whom is a 15 year old boy with brain cancer, have been on the list for eight and a half years. A single mother and her children, all of whom live with her parents, constituting eight people living in a two-bedroom bungalow, have been on the list for eight years. In the Tánaiste's home town, a single mother with five children has been on the list for 12 years. She sleeps on the couch and rents a property for €1,000 per month, despite earning only €275 per week.

The Tánaiste spoke about short-term and long-term solutions. When Sinn Féin spoke about a housing crisis in 2011, 2012 and 2013, however, the Government did not want to know. We are not suggesting that the Government is doing nothing now, although it is not doing remotely enough, but rather that it was doing nothing then. That is why we are in this position.

Some 1,733 families, including 3,821 children, are on the homeless list. One family, comprising a husband, wife and five children, were based in Tallaght where the children attend school. The family were eventually housed in bed and breakfast accommodation in County Meath because they could not find rented accommodation anywhere near the school. They drive to Tallaght every day to drop the kids to school. I asked the parents what they do all day and they said they sit in the car. They asked me what they could do but all I could tell them was that they must wait. That is the answer I have received from South Dublin County Council because the family have not been on the list long enough. When they have called the council to inquire about the list, they have been told there is no list. They have waited for three years. The father is suicidal. While I do not believe that has anything to do with the family's homelessness, the mother cannot leave him alone for five minutes. The family are in crisis and there are many more like them on the list. We seek answers. What does the Minister say to what I have outlined?