Let us have the answer in that case.

I am the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, a responsibility I carry with me every day and night. When a person in emergency accommodation dies, I get that phone call.

The man could not even get into emergency accommodation.

Every day I meet members of the public who struggle because of the crisis in housing and homelessness. They are people in emergency accommodation or sleeping rough, young families and couples seeking to buy their first home and people who cannot afford the rent they pay or who spend far too long commuting, which damages their quality of life because they cannot find homes near where they work. I also meet elderly people looking for security in old age who do not have their own homes. Of course, as the Minister with responsibility for housing, I am aware of all such concerns.

I did not ask whether the Minister was aware.

If Sinn Féin had ideas and a plan worth implementing, it would receive the support of the House. We are a minority Government, which means Opposition Deputies can, if they have the ideas and the programme, secure that support and have their ideas implemented.

Let the Minister speak.

Would the Minister, Deputy Madigan, like to chair the debate?

No, thank you.

I do not need guidance. If the Minister, Deputy Madigan, would like to take the Chair, she is welcome. Will Deputies who were so persistent in asking questions do the courtesy to the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to let him answer?

A Cheann Comhairle, I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy of some Deputies who claim to have all the answers but who, when they put forward their ideas, cannot win the support of any of their colleagues.

With all-party support, the Government is bringing forward important reforms for the rental sector. Rent pressure zones will now apply to 2021. We are changing the qualifying criteria, where areas that do not currently qualify for rent caps will now be subject to them, as we receive data from the Residential Tenancies Board. For the first time in law, we will include large, institutional landlords in those rent cap regulations, which is an important improvement to ensure that tenants are treated the same irrespective of their landlord.

Other points about landlords and evictions were raised. I have met non-governmental organisations on numerous occasions, as has the Taoiseach, and they ask why landlords are allowed to evict tenants because they are selling the property. If we changed the law and told landlords they must keep the tenants in place when the property is sold, what about the person who buys the property? For example, it could be a young couple or family who must then evict the tenants because they want to move into the home they have bought. Families evicting families will not solve the problem but rather will move it to someone else who is not a professional landlord.

On vacancy, 42 sites that were previously vacant and on the vacant site levy are under construction. I told every local authority to form a vacant house strategy and team, and all 31 local authorities have reported back on that work. The council may have told Deputy Breathnach that it does not have a vacancy officer but it is the council's responsibility to put one in place.

The council wants somebody on the ground.

In the 12 months to March, more than 2,500 homes came out of long-term vacancy, that is, vacancy of more than two years, and back into use because of the work of local authorities, housing bodies and others bringing their homes back into use.

On those in emergency accommodation or who are sleeping rough, we now have a national director and national plan for Housing First and we are creating Housing First tenancies, which follow international best practice for getting people off the streets and into secure accommodation, and keeping them there. Last year, 5,000 individuals and households came out of homelessness. They were either prevented from going into it or came out of emergency accommodation. More than 27,000 households were supported by the taxpayer. It is important work but there are thousands more people we need to help, which is why we continue to drive on with Rebuilding Ireland to get that work done.

St. Michael's Estate is the final point I wish to address.

This is a very important development not only for St. Michael's Estate and its surrounding community but also for the country. It is the first large-scale cost rental project. It was objected to locally by people. We do get objections that cause time delays.

The Minister is part of it.

We are working and I was out there one evening a couple of months ago to speak the community group. We are trying to manage this sensitively with the local community group and this does add extra time. The National Development Finance Agency has already done the financial modelling on affordability and what it would mean depending on what salary someone might be earning. The European Investment Bank has already made a commitment to fund the project and we will bring forward the plans to it. We are progressing them as quickly as possible.