I welcome the fact there will be an opportunity to hear from the Minister for Health on the issue of the horrific turn of events at the maternity hospital in Cork.

In October 2018, the then Government announced an affordable housing fund worth €310 million to deliver 6,200 homes to rent or buy over a three-year period. In the Taoiseach's budget day speech at the time, he claimed this fund was a result of Fianna Fáil influence over the then Government. Will he also claim the fact the plan was an absolute failure? Zero affordable homes to rent or buy were delivered in 2019 or 2020. In response to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has confirmed that only eight affordable homes to purchase will be delivered by this Government by the end of 2021. The Minister, who believes the property market is not out of control, will only have delivered eight genuinely affordable homes to buy this year. Is it any wonder we have a housing crisis? Níor chuir an tAire ar fáil ach ocht dteach inacmhainne sa bhliain seo. Is scannal é seo agus tá sé maslach dóibh siúd atá sáinnithe sa ghéarchéim tithíochta seo. Taispeánann sé go bhfuil an Rialtas ag teip ar thithíocht.

The Taoiseach has now been in government for 15 months. The fund to which I refer was in place before he took office. He has stated many times that housing will be his priority. He has stated he wants to give working people a chance to own their own homes. Is he seriously telling me this can actually be achieved by him when his Government will deliver only eight affordable homes to buy this year?

It seems that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refuse to change. They simply recycle failed policies, the policies that got us into this mess in the first place. We see that in the plan of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. It caters for the interests of big developers, large landowners and institutional investors first and foremost and not those in housing need. The Government will not invest enough money in delivering affordable homes through councils and approved housing bodies because those would be homes that people could actually buy. For the Taoiseach, it seems housing is all about the profits of the private sector and Government initiatives that are about lining the pockets of developers. He continues down that road relentlessly. He knows full well that so many people are stuck paying massive rents, forking out as much as €2,000 a month. I do not know how you put together a deposit for a house while paying that kind of rent. Now, through this parliamentary question, it has been confirmed that only eight genuinely affordable homes will be delivered this year. That is a slap in the face to every person who is in housing need throughout the State.

Does the Taoiseach accept that this scheme has been an utter failure? Can he explain how it is that the Government will only deliver eight affordable homes this year?

First of all, I reject the assertions of the Deputy in terms of the essence of this Government's housing policy, which is very much focused on affordable homes, contrary to the position of the party opposite on affordable housing in recent years because it has consistently opposed home ownership. It has voted against every affordability measure at every turn. In particular, it opposed the help-to-buy scheme that has helped 22,000 people to get onto the property market. It opposed more than 6,000 homes in Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council. Right across the board, it has opposed projects that had significant affordable components in those particular schemes.

From the perspective of the Government, we were not in government in 2018. We have been in government for 15 months and during those 15 months there have been two significant lockdowns. That has impacted in terms of house construction, but the Minister has spent that time putting in a legislative foundation in terms of the affordability Bill and other measures to ensure there are a number of schemes, which he has resourced - they are resourced in the Housing for All strategy - that will make thousands of affordable homes available in the coming years. State intervention will be provided for up to 36,000 affordable purchase homes in the context of that plan. That is in addition to 90,000 social homes and up to 18,000 cost rental homes. These are clear targets in the Housing for All strategy. That is backed up by €4 billion per annum in Government resources and has been approved by the Government.

On the legislative front, the Minister has put in the legislative underpinning for affordable homes. He has engaged with the local authorities on a local authority-led scheme and approach in terms of affordable homes and in terms of providing the necessary finance and supports to approved social housing bodies, which the Deputy referenced in her comments. I found that comment striking because the opposite is the case. We are resourcing the approved housing bodies very significantly in terms of their particular objective on the social housing front.

That initiative in 2018 did not lead to affordable home provision. We were not in an executive position to determine that or deliver it, but we are now and I am very focused on delivering on the commitments within the Housing for All strategy now that we are emerging from Covid-19 and progress is being made on a number of programmes. The first affordable homes will be developed in Boherboy in Cork this year and the engagement has happened with local authorities. The reform of the serviced sites initiative scheme is one example of that and there are a range of other measures, such as the legislation in terms of the delivery mechanisms that will be required to get affordable homes built in this country and to enable people to afford the cost of houses.

Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil béim faoi leith ag an Aire ar thithe a chur ar fáil do dhaoine ionas go mbeidh siad in ann iad a cheannach ar phraghas réasúnta. Sin atá i gcroí lár pholasaithe an Rialtais ó thaobh chúrsaí tithíochta de. Beimid ag déanamh gach aon iarracht i bhfad níos mó tithe a thógáil i mbliana agus an bhliain seo chugainn ná mar a bhíomar in ann a dhéanamh le linn na paindéime. Níl aon amhras ach go raibh drochthionchar ag an víreas corónach ar an méid tithe a bhíomar in ann a thógáil i mbliana ach tá feabhas ag teacht ar an scéal lá ina dhiaidh lae.

The Taoiseach is big on numbers and targets but very low on delivery. That is the reality. He cannot spoof his way out of this one because I have a reply from his Minister, dated 21 September, which makes it clear that the sum total of eight affordable homes for purchase will be delivered by the end of this year - eight - at a time-----

We knew that.

The Taoiseach knew that. It is not a surprise to him.

It has not been a surprise all year.

I have to tell him it is a surprise to people-----

It is not, and it should not be to the Deputy.

-----who are looking to put a roof over their heads.

The Deputy has been involved in all the housing debates all year. She knows exactly the situation.

We have a housing emergency. The Taoiseach has said that housing policy will be front and centre and that he understands the depths of this emergency, when he clearly does not. He sat there in a state of self-satisfaction when no more than eight affordable homes will be delivered by the end of this year. I think that is scandalous. He ought to be ashamed that this is his record in government. Can he explain to people who wish to put an affordable roof over their heads-----

Time is up, Deputy McDonald, please.

-----how it is that only eight homes will be delivered by the end of this year? People deserve a full explanation and accountability for that.

Hear, hear.

With the greatest respect, what I think is scandalous is that the Deputy's party opposed 975 homes that were due to be built in Clondalkin, of which 20% were social housing. I think it is scandalous that her party opposed 500 homes in Tallaght, of which 80% would be social or affordable purchase homes. I think it is scandalous that her party opposed 278 homes in Swords. It voted against 1,200 social, affordable and private homes in Ballymastone and Donabate. That is what is scandalous - the hypocrisy that emanates from the Deputy and her party when it comes to housing provision in this country.

Eight affordable houses.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has stated very clearly that he has put in place the building blocks for the development of----

Of eight houses.

Of eight houses.

-----a comprehensive affordable housing programme-----

Not many blocks.

-----including 36,000 affordable purchase homes under Housing for All. The first home scheme for first-time buyers will enable people to buy a home through government help to bridge the gap-----

Not 16,000, but eight.

-----between the finance they have and the cost of a home. The local authority affordable purchase scheme will make available homes at an average cost of €250,000 across the country. The reformed local authority home loan scheme, with reduced interest rates for all new applicants, will see more single people eligible for State-backed mortgages. The Minister has put in place the legislation. The Deputy knew he was doing that last year, so she should not come in here feigning surprise with statistics from a parliamentary question which she knew the answer to already. She knew that. This is about her exploiting the housing crisis for her ends; it is not about genuinely trying to help people-----

Well, fix it then.

-----who need housing. All she is about, and has consistently been about, is exploiting the housing crisis for her electoral gain.

A Cheann Comhairle, can I enquire and ask for your guidance, as Cathaoirleach in this House? The objective of this session is that questions are put to the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach attempts, to the best of his ability, however limited that might be-----

Thank you, Deputy. We are not going to have a debate.

-----to answer the questions.

We are not going to have a debate.

I do not believe that it-----

Please, Deputy.

-----ought to be for the Head of Government-----

Please, Deputy. You are bringing-----

-----to go off on a diversion-----

Deputy, you are bringing the House into disrepute. Please resume your seat.

I will resume my seat. What brings this House into disrepute is that kind of blather that we have had to listen to-----

No. This is an entirely political exchange.

-----with no answers to very important questions.

Please resume your seat, Deputy. I call Deputy Alan Kelly.