This is no country for young people and we have more evidence of that today. A new report has shown that the number of first-time buyers aged 30 or under has collapsed in the past 16 years, falling from 60% in 2004 to just 27% in 2020. These figures, while shocking, are just further confirmation of what we have all known for some time, which is that young people in Ireland have been handed a poisoned chalice. They will be the first generation who are less well off than their parents. Stagnant wages and soaring housing costs are largely to blame.

In the past eight years, house prices have doubled, growing by more than 12% in the past year alone. Rents have also doubled in a decade. While housing costs have skyrocketed, wages have flatlined and low pay is endemic. Is it any wonder that people in this cohort cannot buy a home before they hit 30? Many cannot even find a place to rent; buying is just a pipe dream. Generation rent is, in fact, generation spent, with a huge proportion stuck living at home. The census in 2016 found 50% of adults aged under 30 were living with their parents. What will that proportion be when the next census is published next year?

The job prospects and earning capacity of many of those now in their 30s were decimated by the crash in 2008 and have never recovered. The pandemic has further compounded this disadvantage, disproportionately impacting on young people's educational opportunities, social lives and earnings. When businesses closed, it was predominantly young people who lost jobs. Employment fell 14% below pre-pandemic levels for those aged 15 to 34, compared with just 6% for those aged over 35. The pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, was supposed to be evidence of a social contract extended to workers who lost their jobs to protect public health. That has been closed to new entrants and cut for existing recipients, despite the continuing restrictions in some sectors. Added to the mix now is a cost-of-living crisis that has seen inflation balloon to a 13-year high, making it even harder for people to make ends meet.

I have three questions for the Tánaiste. Why should young people have any faith in his Government? What is he doing to tackle the myriad cost of living crises young people face in this country? What is he doing to ensure history does not repeat itself and young people do not suffer the detrimental economic legacy of this pandemic in ten years' time, as happened after the 2008 crash?

I thank the Deputy for raising these matters. First, I am somebody who believes in home ownership. This is a Government that believes in home ownership. I am not sure that is really true for many of the people opposite or on the left of politics in Ireland. Some 70% of people in this country own their own home and we want that to be a reality for people in their 20s and 30s. A huge part of our Housing for All policy is making the dream of home ownership a reality for more people in Ireland of all ages, particularly those in their 20s and 30s who now find it so hard to get a mortgage and find a home they can afford to buy.

What are we doing? We are increasing supply. Just in the past 12 months, the number of new homes that started construction hit 30,000. That is really encouraging. It is not so long ago that only 5,000 or 6,000 new homes were being built in Ireland every year. We are now up to approximately 30,000 new homes being built every year. As those homes become available, we will see more people being able to buy their first home, which is really encouraging. It is disappointing to see so many people, including members of the Deputy's party, objecting to new homes being built. In Drumcondra, for example, people objected to homes being built because they are one-bedroom apartments. Surely the Deputy knows how many young people are single. One of the changes that has happened in our society is that people tend to form their households later in life, get married later and be single for longer. Objecting to housing on the basis that it comprises one-bed apartments, as the Social Democrats so often does, really misunderstands the fact there are so many single people in society now. In fact, one of our biggest deficiencies in housing supply in Ireland is that we are a country of three-bedroom homes, by and large, and we do not have enough one-bedroom homes. I really encourage the Social Democrats to end its opposition to one-bedroom apartments and housing of that nature because I think it is wrong-headed.

Another thing we are doing is the help-to-buy scheme which, again, was opposed by a lot of people in this House. Very many of the people, particularly younger people, who have managed to buy a home for the first time in the past couple of years were able to do so because the help-to-buy scheme helped them to raise a deposit. That would be taken away from them if this Government was removed and replaced by a government of the left. Such a government would take that away. It might help them with a rent credit or something like that but it would take away 20 times more by getting rid of the help-to-buy scheme. I encourage all Members opposite to reconsider their opposition to the scheme, because it is one of the things that helps younger people, and young couples in particular, to buy their first home.

We are also making mortgages more available. A lot of people are paying very high rents of €1,500 to €2,000 a month or even more but cannot get a mortgage that would cost €1,500 or €1,400 per month. This leaves them trapped paying very high rents, unable to get a mortgage they could afford to pay. We are helping with that by expanding the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme to make it available to more people and making it a local authority loan.

Thank you, Tánaiste.

I am glad to see today that the Central Bank has announced it will allow lenders to take part in a shared equity scheme, which I think will be of benefit too.

It is very telling that in response to three very important questions, the Tánaiste used his time trying to slate the Social Democrats in regard to what our approach to housing might be in government. He says he believes in home ownership and the Government's policy is aiming for that and will achieve it. However, its big idea to boost affordability for young people is the shared equity scheme, which fails to make houses more affordable and heaps extra debt on first-time buyers who must, in effect, pay for the unaffordable cost of homes. There is nothing new in the Government's housing policy. It is still wedded to the same developer-led approach. People have said time and again that insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Government's housing policy.

If these issues are not addressed, they will continue to fester and things will only deteriorate. The Tánaiste and his party have been in power for nearly 11 years now. The responsibility for young people's dwindling opportunities and ability ever to own a home rests squarely on this Government and the Tánaiste's previous two Governments. It is unbelievable that he would stand up and slate the Social Democrats' approach to housing policy.

Thank you, Deputy.

Will he please answer my questions?

I think it is entirely reasonable for the Deputy to criticise the Government and my party.

I do not think it is reasonable for the Deputy to say that her party should not be criticised or be subject to any analysis or criticism at all. That is very one-sided. I ask her to reconsider that comment.

We have 70% home ownership in Ireland. We have one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world.

I am talking about young people aged under 30.

That did not happen because of the Social Democrats. It happened because of policies pursued for generations in Ireland. That is not the reality for a lot of younger people in Ireland. Most of our housing policies are now orientated towards trying to increase home ownership in Ireland and make it possible for more people to buy homes. Shared equity is part of that. I have seen it work in my constituency, where people who are renting and unable to afford a home can do so through shared equity. We will see a lot of demand for that. It is not the only solution, but it is part of the solution. Help to buy, shared equity, supporting the building of new housing and making mortgages more affordable are all things that we are doing and all things the Deputy's party will not support.