Mar gheall ar pholasaí Fhine Gael agus Fhianna Fáil, ní bheidh a dteach féin ag mórchuid oibrithe ar fud an Stáit. Oibríonn na daoine seo go dícheallach agus go crua. Chíonn siad ó thuairisc na seachtaine seo nach bhfuil toil pholaitiúil ag an Rialtas le luach na dtithe seo a ísliú. Tá an gnáthduine fágtha ar leataobh gan teach ar phraghas réasúnta le fáil acu. Tá an dóchas imithe ag na hoibrithe agus na teaghlaigh seo go mbeidh a dteach féin acu. Is ar an Rialtas atá an locht.

This week, the Society of Chartered Surveyors released the Real Costs of New Apartment Delivery 2020 report. The report reveals the full development and purchase costs of residential housing developments in Dublin and its commuter belt for last year. For workers and families looking to buy or rent an affordable home, it made for very grim reading. The cheapest apartment detailed in the report was €359,000. To buy that, a working couple would need to have a deposit of €36,000 and a gross income of over €90,000. The cheapest apartments in Dublin city centre cost a staggering €439,000. To buy that property, a couple would need a deposit of €44,000 and a gross salary of €112,000. The Tánaiste knows as well as I do that these prices are beyond the reach of the vast majority of workers and families in this State.

Under the watch of Fine Gael in government, the price of homes has risen so high that working people on good incomes can no longer afford to buy their own home. That is the reality. An entire generation of workers has been locked out of home ownership. That is why 70% of the apartments outlined in the report of the Society of Chartered Surveyors are not even for sale. They are being developed for a build-to-rent market, snapped up by institutional investors, vulture funds or so-called cuckoo funds that are exploiting the scarcity of housing to turn over massive profits. They have been aided and abetted in doing so by a tax regime brought in by a Fine Gael Government that gives them the upper hand over workers and families. The rents they charge are excessive and a disgrace. In Dublin suburbs and the commuter belt, rents now range from €1,800 to €2,000 per month. Here in Dublin, a month's rent will set a renter back between €2,200 and €2,600. If ever there was proof of how broken our housing system is, this is it.

The Tánaiste said that he would stand up for those who got up early in the morning to go to work. What about the hard-working people, especially young people, who get up every morning but cannot afford to rent or buy a home? They are paying huge rents and cannot afford a home, or they are forced to live far away from their work and families, condemned to spend hours making the long commute to work, day in and day out. There is another cohort of people who are living at home with their parents. This is not only an issue in Dublin but is repeated throughout the State.

The former Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, repeatedly promised to deliver 6,200 affordable homes by 2021. Not one of those has been delivered; not one. Does the Tánaiste accept that Fine Gael's housing policy has failed these families? Does he accept that proposals brought forward by Fine Gael have fuelled this issue? What is he going to do to deliver affordable homes for working people who want to rent or buy?

I thank the Deputy. All of us in this House acknowledge that the cost of housing in Ireland is far too high, particularly for those who want to buy their first home. Those costs are very high relative to people's incomes. That is particularly so in the cities, especially in central Dublin to which the report referred to by the Deputy relates.

I note that the whole premise of the Deputy's question was to compare the housing record of my party in government with his party's record. It is fair that we do exactly that. When it comes to housing, Sinn Féin is for it in principle but always seems to be against it in practice. Its record, whether in Northern Ireland or in local authorities in this State, is very poor when it comes to providing social housing, keeping rents down and permitting builders to build houses that people need to buy.

What is the solution? More social housing is, of course, a part of the solution. More social housing benefits everyone, not only people who are on the housing list, but also people who are renting in the private sector because it helps to bring down the general cost of housing for those who do not qualify for social housing. That is why we need to build much more of it.

Deputy Doherty mentioned Deputy Eoghan Murphy. In 2019, the last year in which he was the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, we added 6,000 units to our social housing stock. North of the Border, where Sinn Féin is in government and has been for 13 of the last 20 years, much less social housing has been provided on a per capita basis. Sinn Féin provided less social housing than Deputy Eoghan Murphy in 2019. That is Sinn Féin's record and that is a verifiable fact.

When it comes to private housing, we need to build more of that because people need homes to buy and people in Ireland want to own their own homes. That is true of 65% or 70% of people and we want to make that a reality for as many people as we can. However, Sinn Féin representatives on local authorities across Ireland vote against zoning land for housing, housing developments, social housing and mixed housing of all sorts. That is particularly verifiable in Dublin City Council and other areas.

We have the help-to-buy scheme which Sinn Féin is against. That scheme is there to help people with their deposits, allowing them to reclaim some of the income tax they have paid in previous years. Sinn Féin has consistently opposed that but it has helped thousands of people to get their deposits together and buy their first home.

We also have rent pressure zones which were brought in to moderate and control rents. While they have not brought rents down, they have been successful in slowing rent inflation, ensuring that in many parts of the country the maximum rent increase is 4% and, in many cases, is much lower than that. Contrast that with Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, where it voted to increase rents. These are the facts. Sinn Féin built fewer social houses in 2019 than Deputy Eoghan Murphy did as the Fine Gael Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. Sinn Féin votes to increase rents in Northern Ireland. It opposes the building of new homes on local authorities across Ireland. Sinn Féin would make a bad situation much worse.

Seriously, what planet is the Tánaiste living on? It is time for him to get his head out of the sand. The Tánaiste has been in government for ten years. The Tánaiste was Taoiseach for a period of that time, yet he tries to blame everybody else for this issue. That does not wash. The reality is that this is his housing crisis. It costs €439,000 to buy the cheapest apartment in Dublin city. Under his Governments over the past ten years, people are paying rents of up to €2,600 per month, yet the Tánaiste wants to blame everybody else. He knows the facts fine well. Sinn Féin has not opposed a single social or affordable housing development in Dublin. Contrast that with the Tánaiste's councillors who have voted against thousands of social and affordable housing schemes in Clondalkin and Tallaght. That is the reality of it. The Tánaiste has been told time and time again that some of the policies that he has introduced are fuelling house prices. Do not take Sinn Féin's word for it. The help-to-buy scheme has been attacked by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, which stated it will push up house prices and that is exactly what it is doing.

Look at the shared equity scheme that the Government is introducing. The most senior civil servant in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said that the scheme is about lining the pockets of developers.

Thank you, Deputy.

What does Deputy Leo Varadkar do? He talks about introducing this scheme.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.

"Let us push house prices up further." Is that your policy Leo? Is it to push rents up further? That is what has happened-----

Go raibh maith agat, Deputy.

What is the Tánaiste going to do about it?

For anyone who decides to write or review this debate, the record should state that it was the Deputy who got personal, both towards Deputy Eoghan Murphy and me. It was the Deputy who was partisan, attacking Fine Gael, my party, by name rather than talking about the Government. It is important that is recognised. Having been personal and partisan, it is only fair that I should be allowed to stand my ground and defend myself as a person and defend my party and my colleagues.

What about the prices?

The fact is that the Deputy's party, Sinn Féin, has been in government for 13 of the past 20 years in Northern Ireland. It has been in government on this island longer than my party has in the past 20 years. Sinn Féin is a party of government, an establishment party north of the Border. When it comes to social housing, its record is not good. It built fewer social houses in Northern Ireland in recent years than we have added to the social housing stock south of the Border, certainly since 2016. Sinn Féin increased local authority rents in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin councillors did that and cannot blame anyone else for it.

Sinn Féin voted against plenty of mixed housing developments here in this city.

That is not true.

Give examples.

I thank the Tánaiste.

Sinn Féin also opposed the help-to-buy scheme, which has helped thousands of people to buy their first home.

Go raibh maith agat, a Thánaiste.

What are you going on about? You created this problem. What are you going to do about it?

You need to take something to calm down. You are a very angry man.