Yesterday, the plight of private renters dominated Leaders' Questions, and rightly so. The budget did not contain a single measure to ease the burden of sky-high rents. The only mention of the private rental sector was the extension of a tax relief to landlords. In response, the Taoiseach deliberately conflated the social rental sector with private renters. He talked about the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Does he not realise that increasing these expensive, short-term schemes by almost 15,000 tenancies next year will actually make the situation for private renters much worse? He said the Land Development Agency, LDA, would deliver 1,000 cost rental homes next year. Does he not realise that this is wishful thinking? The LDA does not have 1,000 cost rental units under construction. This means that the only way it can reach this target is if it purchases from private developers, snatching even more homes away from struggling buyers. He said that funding will be provided to approved housing bodies to deliver 750 cost rental units but the Government could not even deliver the 390 cost rental units promised this year. He also rejected Sinn Féin's proposal for a refundable tax credit for renters, yet he promised this very measure in his election manifesto.

Not to be outdone, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, protested loudly when criticised for his failure to protect renters. Red-faced from his failed policy of linking rents to inflation at a time when inflation is about to pass 4%, he is now promising a 2% cap. Like Fine Gael's 4% cap on rent hikes, this measure will not work. It will not apply to renters outside rent pressure zones and it will not apply to new properties on the market. It will be impossible to police for new tenants in existing rental dwellings. The Minister's call for the Residential Tenancies Board to step up enforcement of the rules rings hollow when the Government will not even provide the board with enough staff to do its job.

The last time I raised the plight of private renters with the Tánaiste was in September. I reminded him that during his decade in power, rents have increased 100%. When he was Taoiseach, the number of properties in the rental market dropped by 20,000. Instead of dealing with the issue, the Tánaiste went on the attack. He avoided, misdirected and misrepresented. He may think that this kind of belligerent approach is good for his satisfaction ratings but it actually confirms that the Tánaiste has no empathy. He lacks that basic human ability to put himself in the shoes of other people enduring hardship. Why would he? He, more than any other politician in the Government, is directly responsible for that hardship, with working single people and couples desperately trying to save for a deposit, separated and divorced people who have lost their family homes, families recovering from Celtic tiger-era home repossession, students forced to choose between sky-high rents and crippling commutes, and modest-income workers approaching retirement and looking nervously to the future.

My question is simple. When will the Tánaiste and Government stop abandoning renters and act to cut rents and ban rent increases?

It is hard to hear anyone in Sinn Féin accusing anyone in the Government of misrepresentation. Misrepresentation, misquotes, telling us what we think and believe, and then criticising us for what it says we think and believe, is a classic Sinn Féin tactic. There is misrepresentation all the time. It is what Sinn Féin thrives on. I think it is beneath Deputy Ó Broin because-----

What about the renters? Focus on them.

-----he is an intelligent person. He is one of the brighter people in his party and to engage in a personalised attack on me is beneath him.

Hear, hear.

It is wrong. It is classic of the left-wing populism which Sinn Féin stands for. It is about creating ideas of masses against the elites, simple solutions to complex problems, and demonising opponents. It is not just about disagreeing with people but saying that the people that Sinn Féin disagrees with are lesser people and do not care as much. That is pure left-wing populism. That kind of populism has destroyed politics in many other democracies. Sinn Féin represents that in this country. I hope that will become more obvious to people over the years. It should be possible to disagree with people without questioning their motives or making them out to be uncaring or whatever Sinn Féin's current line is. It is beneath the Deputy. It is unnecessary and I hope he will reconsider that approach. It is the left-wing populist approach. It is the mirror image of what Trump and Brexit have done, and what extremists are doing on the left and right all over Europe.

The housing crisis affects different people in different ways. Some people are struggling to pay rent, other people are struggling to pay mortgages, and there are people in their 30s and 40s still living at home with their parents because they are struggling to raise a deposit to buy a house as that is what they want to do. In the budget, we introduced income tax and welfare packages that will benefit people across society. It will not just benefit renters but all workers and indeed people who are on welfare. We stand over the approach that we took in this budget.

We have done two significant things for private renters in the budget. We are retaining the help to buy scheme, which helps people to raise a deposit to buy a house. We have record levels of investment in social housing, cost rental and affordable housing. That is what we did in the budget for private renters. Sinn Féin's approach was different. It offered a rent tax credit of about €1,000 a month, but with one hand it would give renters €1,000 while with the other hand it would take away €20,000 to €30,000 by abolishing the help to buy scheme. Renters who want to become homeowners are much better off under this Government than they would be under Sinn Féin. There is no doubt that renters who want to buy would be better off under this Government than they would be under Sinn Féin. I believe that Sinn Féin is proposing that because it fundamentally does not believe in increasing home ownership. It is not against home ownership entirely, but it does not want to see the percentage of people who own their home increasing. Its model is different. It is the Vienna model. It is the central eastern European model-----

-----which is about people renting for life. It might be the case that rents would be lower. It might be the case that people would have more secure tenancies and that they are renting from a public landlord rather than a private landlord, but ultimately, the model that Sinn Féin proposes is about keeping people renting for life, whereas we propose to help people buy their own home. That is why we are retaining the help to buy grant, of €20,000 to €30,000 in tax back, when Sinn Féin would take that away. A person would need to draw down Sinn Féin's tax credit for 20 to 30 years to match that. That is a truth that people need to hear.

Not only has the Tánaiste's response confirmed that he lacks empathy for the struggle of renters, it also shows that he does not even understand the housing crisis. The Central Statistics Office released two important pieces of information today. House prices have increased by a staggering 10.9% across the State in the past year. That is why people cannot own their home and why, under the Tánaiste's leadership of Fine Gael, home ownership as a percentage of the total housing stock has continued to decline. Saying that he is in favour of home ownership but pushing it beyond the reach of working families is not only foolish but deeply hypocritical. Help to buy is a bad scheme. Some 60% of the people who got it did not need it and it pushed up house prices. Not only is there help to buy, but a toxic pro-developer shared equity loan scheme which will do even worse harm. We also have the latest CSO figures for the harmonised index of consumer prices, which was 3.8% in September and went to 3.9% this morning. What will the Government do to stop skyrocketing rents and help renters?

Where is the Deputy's empathy for private renters who want to buy?

Answer the question.

People are struggling to pay their rent and to raise deposits. Where is the Deputy's empathy for them? He would offer them €1,000 with one hand and take €20,000-----

We need 4,000 genuinely affordable homes to buy every year. What has the Tánaiste done?

The Tánaiste has the floor.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might allow me a little bit of extra time because my time was taken by Sinn Féin.

While you evaded the questions again, Tánaiste.

Where is Sinn Féin's empathy for private renters who want to buy? It would give them €1,000 tax credit per year-----

And 4,000 affordable homes to purchase each year.

-----and take €20,000 off them-----

Let the Tánaiste reply.

Once again, the Tánaiste is deliberately misleading the House.

The Tánaiste has the floor.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the protection of the Chair. Where is Sinn Féin's empathy for private renters who want to buy? It would give them €1,000 tax credit per year-----

We would provide 4,000 affordable homes to purchase each year. I have told the Tánaiste that three times. All the Government is providing is 500 affordable homes to purchase. I can say it a fourth time if the Tánaiste did not hear me.

Deputy Ó Broin has had his minutes. Please let the Tánaiste respond uninterrupted.

Where is Sinn Féin's empathy for private renters who want to buy? It would give them a €1,000 tax credit per year and take €20,000 off them by abolishing the help-to-buy scheme. That scheme has helped more than 30,000 individuals and couples to buy their own home since it was established.

And pushed up house prices.

It will help tens of thousands more to buy a home and Sinn Féin would take that away. What have we done for renters in this budget?

Nothing.

The help-to-buy scheme has been continued. We are investing more in social housing, affordable housing-----

What has the Government done for private renters?

-----and cost rental housing, which will help private renters. As well as that, we have brought in a rent freeze in real terms, making sure rents cannot go up by more than the rate of inflation. We may modify that again to bring that figure down.

Inflation is 4%. How is that a rent freeze? The dishonesty is incredible.

This is a national parliament.

It would be nice if the Government was honest with the people for a change.

The Tánaiste does not interrupt you, Deputy Ó Broin.

If you could finish, Tánaiste-----

On a point of order, the Deputy, who has demonstrated no empathy for people who want to buy their own home, has accused me of a lack of empathy. I can put up with that. He has also accused me of dishonesty. That is not okay. It is out of order and he should withdraw it.

I have given the Tánaiste extended time. I will deal with the matter afterwards. I ask him to finish the reply.

I am done. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I did not hear what was said but it is unacceptable to keep interrupting any speaker. It was the Tánaiste on the floor. It is unacceptable, no matter how deeply the Deputy feels on the subject. I ask Deputy Ó Broin to-----

My apologies.

Thank you. Can we move on with co-operation and respect from all sides?