On Tuesday, in an exchange in the House, the Taoiseach referred to the UN human development index ranking, which had Ireland in third place for quality of life. It was calculated using the three categories of health, education and income. The statistics were life expectancy of 82 years, 18.79 expected years of schooling and gross national income of €55,659.68. There has been growth in the quality of life in Ireland since 2012. Then we come to the statistics we get in reply to questions. I will take housing as an example. We have statistics such as 64,000 new homes being delivered, 26,000 on site, a further 30,000 with planning permission and 75,000 families removed from consistent poverty. This brings to mind the clichéd phrase regarding statistics of lies, damned lies and statistics. I came across an interesting definition of statistics that is quite relevant to my question today. The definition is that statistics are like a bikini as what they reveal is interesting but what they hide is vital. Statistics reveal interesting information to answer questions but what they hide is the reality. Understanding this reality is vital to direct policies and strategies. What is hidden is the reality of life and the impact of not having a home, whether people are in emergency accommodation, sleeping rough, in overcrowded unsuitable accommodation or in direct provision. What is also hidden is the impact and reality of inequality.

I refer to two reports and I do not expect the Tánaiste to have heard of them. They were done by All Together in Dignity. These are The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty and a study on living in the shadows of socioeconomic deprivation. They came from conversations with people who are living with the reality of poverty. They speak about suffering mentally, emotionally and physically. They speak about institutional and social maltreatment, discrimination and disempowerment. This should not be happening in Ireland, a country that has wealth, a relatively small population, resources, investment and employment. It is great to celebrate coming third but it is nothing to celebrate for those I have mentioned. Coming third cannot allow us to be complacent and we have to be driven to ensure all can enjoy the quality of life that has Ireland in third place. It is vital that we consider a different ideology, different principles and a different philosophy and that we are driven by the values that direct our overseas development aid so that coming third applies to everybody. There is a need for a radical shift. Quality of life begins with a home.

Of course any broad assessment of statistics and drawing conclusions from it will hide tragic cases and inequality in certain sectors. It is also worth saying that statistics do not lie. We have made extraordinary progress in this country since 2012. It is important to recognise this. Of course we need to focus on things we have not done yet but if we look at the CSO figures in the survey on income and living conditions and the statistics from 2013 to 2018, inclusive, we see genuine progress in reducing poverty levels, reducing deprivation levels, increasing nominal income and a reduced number of people at risk of poverty. This is true. It is progress and it should be recognised.

We have seen huge numbers of people being taken out of the risks and pressures of being unemployed. The figure has fallen from 15% unemployment to below 5% unemployment. During that period, the Government continued to increase the rates of minimum wage to try to make sure that as the country can afford it everybody benefits from a rising tide. This is what we have been trying to do.

This does not suggest we do not still have significant challenges and housing is at the heart of this, in terms of ensuring we facilitate enough homes being built at affordable prices for people to be able to access them, and for those who cannot afford to buy their own homes or rent their own properties that the State can intervene to support them in having a home of their own. We are doing this. We are not where we need to be yet. We need to complete approximately 35,000 housing units a year in Ireland. This year, the figure will be approximately 22,000. We are still increasing our output by more than 25% a year, which is significant. This year, as we have said over again, we will add an extra 10,000 social housing units to the social housing stock.

If we take my city as an example, in Cork in 2014 there was one social house under construction for Cork City Council. There are currently 1,000 on site under construction. This is the change we are making and this is the pace that needs to continue for the next few years to make sure we get up to providing at least 12,000 extra social housing units a year and we provide thousands of affordable houses and cost rental and increase the housing output so the people to whom the Deputy referred who are, at the moment, in very pressurised and difficult conditions, with some of them in emergency accommodation, can get into homes of their own.

I will always acknowledge progress but that progress is not being applied very widely. I will give a particular example. We all know Brother Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin day centre. Last Saturday night, he was out on O'Connell Street at the GPO with a group singing carols from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. At 10 p.m. on Saturday he made his way to a fundraising event for the Capuchin day centre organised by the Oireachtas ushers. A man in his 80s should not be in a position of having to do this. We know the number of people he feeds every day, with approximately 600 or 700 people coming in and approximately 1,500 food parcels going out. This should not be happening in a country that is wealthy. This is my point. Yes, progress is being made but it comes from a philosophy and ideology that does not take everybody into account. Yes, we have quality of life. All of us here have quality of life and we are looking forward to a good Christmas but we must be directed, and our policies and strategies have to be directed, towards those who are most in need and this is not happening.

I absolutely accept that a core responsibility of Government is to ensure there is a safety net for people who, for whatever reason, find themselves without a home, without income and often with many other challenges, from addiction to family break-up to all sorts of individual personal challenges. This is why we work with people such as Brother Kevin, who is a great person and there are many others like him, who are working for people who are very vulnerable. We spend more than €160 million a year working with organisations to provide homeless services in better emergency accommodation while we help people transition back into a home of their own. There are far too many people homeless in Ireland. We know this. The way to solve it is to continue to improve the quality of the supports available in emergency accommodation. The core way in which this will be solved is to increase significantly the supply of social housing, affordable housing and affordable rental. All of these are happening. They cannot happen quickly enough but they are happening at a pace that the Government will continue to prioritise.