Last week, after the Taoiseach and his partners in Fianna Fáil reasserted their confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, I invited people to share their housing stories with me and they did, in their hundreds. Nothing could have prepared me for the trauma and heartache that those stories encapsulated. We have compiled some of those stories in a document entitled, The Humans of the Housing Crisis. I have sent it to the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and their partner, Deputy Micheál Martin. I trust that the Taoiseach has read the document but it is important to place on the record of the Dáil some of the stories that were sent to me. The Taoiseach may have seen Kevin Maughan's letter to Santa Claus, covered in one of the newspapers this morning. He writes to Santa: "Please come to my hotel again with Batman toys." That is what he wants this year. Kevin is seven. He lives in emergency accommodation in County Clare with his parents and little sister. Kevin has developed asthma due to his homelessness because he has stayed in so many cold and damp places. Here is another letter:

Hi, my landlord wants to sell her house, and myself, husband and my two small kids have to be out by February.

We have nowhere to go. I am on the housing list over 13 years.

Here is another:

We both have decent jobs with good incomes...

We rent a tiny studio apartment. We pay just over €1,000 for the privilege of tripping over each other and fighting over space...

Due to the high rents and high cost of living in this city we live pay check to pay check with little or no savings. Saving for a mortgage is simply not possible for us and our insecure housing situation has forced us to put our lives on hold.

Here is another:

Hi, im a student and until recently was living in a converted shed in the back of the landlord’s house.

I was cramped in there with two others. Rent is €500 and he only takes cash.

When I gave in my month’s notice he forced me out immediately and took my deposit.

Here is another:

I am currently living with my partner’s parents. Four years now in an attic with our 11 year old son.

We decided to take this step as the rent was absolutely spine-breaking. We both have really good jobs.

We have been trying to attain a mortgage for the last four years with no success.

This document is a catalogue of heartbreak, trauma and shattered dreams. It has been caused by the Government. What makes matters worse is that it does not have to be this way. All of these stories can be heard and answered with the right policy decisions. At this stage, the Taoiseach needs to accept and recognise the real harm, financial distress, mental anguish and even physical illness that is being caused to families and to children. He needs to change direction, and to recognise that there are solutions and adopt them. Does he now accept that we have a housing crisis that has no equal? Does he accept that we need to start a radical change in policy? Will he accept that we can start by dealing with extortionate rents? Will he commit to supporting the Sinn Féin legislation that has been debated and will come before the House for a vote tomorrow?

We have always accepted that there is a housing crisis and shortage in the country. Nobody in any party in this House is in denial about that. I have not had a chance to read the Deputy's document yet. I do not think I have received it but it may be in my post bag, which I have not had a chance to look at yet.

The first case the Deputy raised is a complex one and there are individual matters involved which I will not go into in the Chamber, but perhaps I can speak to her about it privately afterwards. We all acknowledge there are human stories around homelessness and the appalling impact homelessness has on both parents and families. I share the Deputy's concern about children who, in the run up to Christmas, are concerned about whether Santa will be able to find them on Christmas Eve. He will find them, and the same goes for children in hospitals, emergency accommodation, hotels or who are at home with their parents.

The solution to the housing crisis, on which we all broadly agree, is to increase dramatically the supply of housing in this country. We have an expanding, growing population and more households are being created every year, which means we need to build many houses. The Central Bank is right that we need to build about 35,000 new homes a year. We are not there yet, but in the two and a half years since I became Taoiseach, the number of new homes being built has trebled. That is significant; it is not enough and houses can only be built so quickly. It is significant that the number of new homes being built has trebled in the past three years. We need to double that number again and get up to 35,000 or 40,000 houses per year, which we will do as soon as we possibly can. This year, we have added 10,000 homes to the social housing stock. That is significant as it means 10,000 families are now living in homes that were not being used for social housing this time last year. Santa will arrive in 10,000 houses which were not available for social housing this time last year. We need to build on that and get up to 11,000 houses next year and 12,000 the year after, which we will do.

It is significant that the Government has shirked its responsibilities and failed not just these families but countless others as well. The Government has stepped behind the shadow of private developers and landlords. The Taoiseach comes into this Chamber and endlessly recites figures and statistics and pats himself, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and their partner in government Deputy Micheál Martin on the back. The Taoiseach is trying to tell us that everything is okay, when it is clear that the Government's policy is failing and that things are not okay. For these families to be heard and to find solutions, they must be listened to. The Government has to care about them, as does the Taoiseach. People outside of politics have said to me that the problem with the housing, homelessness, and rental and affordability crises is that the Government does not care. At times, I challenged that assertion, because nobody wants to turn this into a personalised battle. However, when I observe the reactions of the head of Government and his colleagues - some of whom are smirking - to the human stories of loss and heartbreak, which are casualties of their failed policies, it raises the question of whether the Taoiseach cares.

The Taoiseach to respond. The Deputy must observe the time limit.

If he cared, he would not hide behind figures but would change policies. He could start tomorrow evening by backing a rent freeze and a tax credit for renters.

I do not seek to hide behind facts or figures. I am just presenting the facts. The Deputy does not deny that those facts and figures are correct, which means there is legitimacy in what I am saying. I care much more about these issues than Deputy McDonald does. I care deeply about the housing crisis and the problems in our health service, which is why I have taken on the mantle of leadership. It is why I, my party and our colleagues in the Independent Alliance are willing to serve in government. Sinn Féin is different. It walked out of government in Northern Ireland three years ago-----

Jesus.

Is that actually the Taoiseach's answer?

He is like a broken record.

-----and appalling health and homelessness crises are now unfolding in Northern Ireland. If Sinn Féin really cared about health and housing, it would have gone into government in Northern Ireland, fixed those problems and shown us how it was done. It then could have come here and said it would do the same, but it did not.

What rights would the Taoiseach have had us drop?

The people who care about health, housing and the problems our country faces are those who spend 16 or 18 hours every day trying to fix them. Deputy McDonald does not care. She comes into this House twice a day and makes out that she has some sort of monopoly on compassion, but she does not.

The Taoiseach has no compassion.

If Sinn Féin cared, it would have stayed in government in Northern Ireland three years ago-----

He is in his little Tory boy bubble with his colleagues.

That is ridiculous.

-----and solved these problems.