Last night, I attended a protest against evictions at Dillon's Cross in Cork city. The residents of six flats were given notices to quit by July. These people had paid their rents and had not broken their leases. The previous landlord died late last year and the property had been inherited by a nephew. This nephew no doubt noted that the rents were relatively low. He handed out the notices to quit and announced that refurbishment was needed. I have no doubt that, after refurbishment, the rents will double or treble. One of the residents, Brendan, went to the council housing department and was advised to look for a house or apartment share in the private rental sector - co-living I suppose. Brendan is 42 years of age and said that he would not and, in fact, could not share. He was advised that if that was the case, he should check out the Simon Community.

Brendan is not the only one of the residents facing eviction into homelessness. Under this Government, more than 10,000 people are officially homeless. Two thousand years ago, a revolutionary Palestinian carpenter named Jesus Christ entered a temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and denounced the profiteers for organising a den of thieves. This country is crying out for a Government which will cleanse our modern-day den of thieves - the greedy landlords, get rich quick merchants and vulture funds, such as Ires REIT whose profits nearly doubled last year and which pays no corporate or capital gains tax. The Taoiseach and his Government refuse to act. They refuse to ban economic evictions and evictions into homelessness. They refuse even to put a moratorium on evictions until such time as this crisis has passed. Instead, the Taoiseach and his Government support the new European Commission directive which will restrict the rights of member states to impose their own regulations on vulture funds.

This is not a surprise. Four members of Cabinet are landlords, as are five Ministers of State. Nearly one third of members of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party are landlords. Fine Gael will not act against its class interests. This Friday, voters will have a chance to deliver a verdict on the Government's performance on housing. Fine Gael deserve a hammering at the ballot box.

Hear, hear.

It deserves to be given its notice to quit. If Fine Gael is not prepared to protect people being evicted from their homes, is it not right and proper for the people to evict Fine Gael and the Fianna Fáil Party that supports it from the council chambers of this country this Friday?

The people will make their decision on who they vote for on Friday. However it turns out, we will all have to take stock of the result. I am quite confident, however, that once again the parties with which the Deputy is associated will get 1%, 2% or 3% of the vote. The Deputy talks a lot about the 1% but he is the 1% when it comes to public opinion in this State.

The Taoiseach represents the 1% - the elites, the landlords, the developers, the bankers and the bondholders.

To come back to the serious aspect of the Deputy's question, I am very sorry to hear about the case he raised. I do not know the details of it but I am sure what he says is true. I am very sorry to hear about it but I also know that there are many good stories. Some 5,000 families were lifted out of homelessness and provided with secure tenancies in the last year. Some 18,000 families are now living in houses that did not exist a year ago. There are many good stories of people who are being lifted out of homelessness and people who are getting homes for the first time. As I mentioned earlier, 9,000 families were provided with new social housing last year.

Government is working hard on the issue of tenants' rights. We appreciate that the rights of tenants need to be enhanced. That is why we are being active in this area and legislation is going through this House and the Seanad. This will do a number of things to provide more secure tenancies for people who are renting, for example, by extending the notice to quit period. People who are asked to leave by their landlord will be given much more time to find somewhere else to live and rent. That is a big change which will be welcomed by most people. We are also enhancing the resources of the RTB to allow it to take enforcement action against rogue landlords where they mistreat tenants.

We have extended the rent pressure zones to other areas and to new tenancies. As a result of the rent pressure zones, hundreds of thousands of people have had no increase or an increase of less than 4% in their rents in the past year or two. We have also brought in strict criteria on refurbishment so that we do not have rogue landlords using refurbishment as an excuse to increase the rent. These important pieces of legislation and regulations are being introduced by the Government at the moment. I am disappointed that Deputy Barry's party cannot support them.

The Taoiseach talked about extending the notices to quit and no one will oppose that. However, why does the Government not ban notices to quit for economic evictions, for evictions into homelessness and for people like the people who have this threat hanging over their head in Dillon's Cross in Cork city at the moment? The crisis is not the fault of one man; it is the fault of the Government, the market and the system. However, the one man that the Taoiseach put in charge of solving it, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government sitting across from me now, is both out of touch, as was shown by his comments yesterday, and incompetent. Fine Gael has given us some rare talent down through the years. We had John Bruton who put VAT on children's shoes, Richie "ruin", the minister for hardship, and Phil Hogan who threatened the entire population with having their water supply reduced to a trickle if they did not obey his diktat and pay the water charges. However, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, arguably tops them all. Again and again, he defends the landlords, the markets and the indefensible.

That is not true.

The Deputy's time is up.

Is the Taoiseach not in the remotest bit tempted to give this man-----

If there is any sign of losing an argument, it is playing the man and not the ball. The Deputy is pathetic.

Listening to the Fine Gael benches makes me think the Dáil is like a swimming pool - all the noise is coming from the shallow end. I repeat my question. Is the Taoiseach not in the remotest bit tempted to give this man the sack?

Pathetic.

I am disappointed in Deputy Barry's contribution. This is a serious issue. Housing is a very serious issue.

The Taoiseach can bet his life it is.

We have a serious housing shortage. We need to deal with that and we are dealing with it. It is very disappointing that the Deputy's only contribution is to engage in personalised attacks, not only on the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, but also on two former Members of this House, one who is not here and one who passed away not that long ago. That is just a cheap shot. It is beneath contempt and shows the lack of seriousness-----

He is a total coward.

Deal with the question.

Just the way the Taoiseach targeted Garret FitzGerald one time.

-----with which the Deputy and his party take the issue. They only see housing as an opportunity to score points and get votes. I hope they are not rewarded for it.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach did that to Garret FitzGerald one time.