The lack of affordable and secure homes is the biggest problem facing our people for the past decade. We have a generation whose lives have been defined by this housing crisis. When the Taoiseach came to power six months ago, he said that his Government would be the Government to sort out housing, but that promise has fallen flat. Rents remain sky-high, houses remain unaffordable and the council waiting lists still heave with applicants waiting for years on end. At the sharpest end of this crisis, the number of people using homeless services has increased. We know that the true level of those experiencing homelessness is at least 20% greater than official Government figures would show.

We are facing into 2021 and people are asking where the ambition is. Where is the sense of purpose from the Government to fix housing? Where is its sense of urgency to change the direction and to turn the tide of this crisis? People do not see it because it is not there. Ordinary people are paying the price. They pay it by forking out obscene rents to landlords, by living in the box room of their parents' house, and by still not being able to afford a deposit despite saving every single available euro. Far from fixing housing, the Government is making the same mistakes that got us into this mess in the first place and it is doing it with its eyes wide open. It is making mistakes that will ensure more children call a bed and breakfast home, more families face the prospect of homelessness and more young people will give up on ever owning their own home. The Government's lack of ambition was seen again on Monday when the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, re-announced his cost rental plan. A total of 350 units was the best he could do, 50 fewer than promised in the budget. Meanwhile, the Government persists with its belief that €380,000 is affordable for a three-bedroom house.

It is not enough just to build houses; we have to build houses that people can really afford. The Taoiseach seems to have serious trouble understanding what actually is affordable for ordinary workers. That is because his idea of affordability is linked not to public need for decent housing but to the need for profit. I think he is afraid to do the right thing because he does not want to upset developers and landlords. We only have to look at the fact that the direct spend on affordable housing by local authorities and approved housing bodies in 2021 will be a miserable €35 million. Meanwhile, the Government puts €1 billion into the pockets of landlords by subsidising social housing tenants in the rental market. The Taoiseach is truly in an ideological cul-de-sac. At the centre of the Government's housing failure is the absence of its long-promised affordable housing plan. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, first promised that the plan would be published in September. Then it was promised for after the budget. Then it was promised for some time in the autumn. Now the Minister is saying he will bring this plan forward to the Government soon, whatever that means.

That is not good enough. People now are crying out for action. Fianna Fáil had four years to prepare for the housing Ministry. A group of officials in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been working on an affordable housing policy for two years. The Taoiseach has been in charge for six months. My question is clear, it is simple and it is this: where is that affordable housing plan?

If I may, a Cheann Comhairle, I would like to take the opportunity briefly to wish Deputy McDonald and all Deputies in the House a very happy festive season and a safe one. This might be my last opportunity to speak. I wish a happy Christmas to the Ceann Comhairle and his team, the superintendent, the head ushers and the entire team here who have kept our national Parliament operational during a global pandemic, a once-in-a-century event. The voice of Parliament is central to our parliamentary democracy. I genuinely want to thank all of the staff and all of the team here for enabling it to happen - albeit in the convention centre as well as Leinster House - under really significant restrictions for them, including putting their own health at risk in terms of the cramped conditions in Leinster House, which was never built for a pandemic. I just want to thank all and sundry for that help and assistance to enable Parliament to operate. I wish everyone, with their families, a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas.

On housing, I say to Deputy McDonald that Fianna Fáil has hit the ground running and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has hit the ground running. In the very first month, in the July stimulus, for example, funding was provided to being back 2,500 voids. These were houses that were in disrepair within local authority ownership. We said that we were not going to waste a moment and that we would give money and funding to local authorities. That has worked and those 2,500 houses will be occupied by the end of this year. There has been tremendous progress in regard to that specific initiative alone. The Minister has exemplified this practical and get-down-to-work approach.

In regard to the budget itself, the largest ever budget for housing in the history of the State has been provided. The largest and most ambitious social housing programme in the history of the State has been provided for. Some 12,750 social houses will be provided next year. That is separate from the housing assistance payment, HAP, process. A total of 9,500 of the social houses will be new builds, with the remainder in terms of leasing. That is a very significant provision.

Affordable rental has been committed to and it is now going to happen. The first will be Enniskerry, which was conceived of many years ago and is now coming on stream. Deputy Kelly would have been piloting it at the time. It is coming on stream now, with others. In fairness to the Minister, he has got it going and it will happen. Sinn Féin has voted against affordable housing in this Dáil on numerous occasions. It voted against the first-time buyer's grant, for example. A total of 19,500 people have benefited from the help-to-buy scheme or the first-time buyer's grant. This has enabled them to afford to buy houses. The Deputy voted against that every time. Her party consistently voted against it. Under its scheme, any couple earning over €75,000 would be out of the equation and would not be able to participate in the proposals it put forward.

The Land Development Agency legislation will be brought to the Government very shortly. The Minister has worked very hard to develop the shared equity scheme, and fair play to him. The draft heads of the Bill for that scheme are ready as well. The Deputy also mentioned HAP, which has been with us for nearly a decade now. The bottom line is that this budget had to provide for additionality in terms of the HAP scheme in order to provide housing for people. The Deputy voted against that and has consistently done so. If her vote had succeeded, it would only have exacerbated the plight of the housing crisis for many people out there who need assistance and who need help. The Government has provided up to €3.3 billion in this budget to enable us to deal with all aspects of the housing problem. In particular, in regard to homelessness, there has been a reduction in homelessness figures, down to 8,600 compared with more than 10,400 last year.

That number will fall further by the end of the year. Critically, there have been 6,000 exits from homelessness this year. That is considerable movement out of homelessness.

Finally, I refer to the Planning and Development Bill 2020. Perhaps the Deputy can confirm she will vote for it this evening. This will extend provisions to protect tenants from homelessness until next April. That is important legislation. The Minister has been active across the board. He has worked with all the NGOs and approved housing bodies on the homelessness question. I have said to the homelessness and housing sectors, particularly the approved housing bodies and local authorities, that we will deliver. We want them to improve their capacity. The real challenge facing our housing efforts next year will be the capacity to build houses.

The Taoiseach is indulging in the tried and tested strategy of his predecessors. Not only is he trying to explain away the housing crisis, he is trying to live in an extraordinary world of make-believe where there is no crisis. However, the crisis is real. I have rehearsed previously with the Taoiseach the fact that average rents in Dublin are now above €2,000. The average rent nationwide is now above €1,400. I have said to the Taoiseach very directly that his idea of an affordable price for a modest family home does, €380,000, does not tally with reality. I have challenged him before and I challenge him again. We will continue to challenge the Taoiseach until we see real delivery on housing at pace. That means building houses to scale, building affordable homes and building public housing on public land. That is what is required.

We also need a moratorium on evictions into homelessness and real and substantive rent control. Those are the measures the Taoiseach and his friends in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will not take. They have not come off the path of allowing housing policy to be led by developers, landlords and vested interests. It is for the haves. The Government is now facing into 2021 with no coherent plan.

That is just empty rhetoric and nonsense. Housing construction is not being led by developers. I have said repeatedly that 18,000 houses will be built this year if we can get there. Covid-19 has had a negative impact. More than half of those houses will be built by public initiative. Next year, 12,750 houses will be socially delivered. Some 9,500 of those houses will be built by local authorities or approved housing bodies. The old political ideological mantra that housing policy is being led by developers is a complete untruth. It is not.

We need more houses built by the private sector, the public sector and approved housing bodies. It is time for local authorities to bite the bullet where particular schemes are concerned. They should take ideology out of the room and get some housing schemes delivered. Perhaps Deputy McDonald could commit that her party will stop objecting, as all parties should do.

I agree that this is a crisis. It is a crisis for many young people and many homeless people. I have always said it is a crisis. It will take some time to get to the bottom of it. We can only collectively deal with it if we take ideology out of the room, allow mixed-development schemes to go through and stop constantly objecting. Sometimes particular local issues can arise, but there is a consistent thread here - if a development does not fit in Sinn Féin's particular ideological prism it will not happen. Sinn Féin needs to loosen up in terms of affordability. That party's strictures exclude many people who desperately need help and support. Deputy McDonald has not addressed her consistent opposition to the first-time buyers' grant, from which 19,500 people have benefitted. I really would like her to confirm that she will vote for the legislation the Minister is bringing through the House this evening.