I want to be associated with the Ceann Comhairle's remarks, especially the thanks he has given to all the staff here.

I will ask about the latest house price increases. They have increased by 13.5% in the past year and rents have increased by 7%. Almost 9,000 people are living in homeless shelters, including 2,500 children. The Government has failed abysmally to meet any of its housing targets over the past year. In the first nine months of this year, less than one third of the social homes to be delivered were constructed. Only 25 cost rental homes were tenanted this year. During the previous election, the current Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, promised 10,000 affordable homes each year. This year, zero affordable homes were delivered - none at all.

There are tens of thousands of vacant and derelict homes throughout the country and the Government has done nothing to tackle this. When will the Government bring in a vacant homes tax to bring those homes back into use?

It is planned to bring in a vacant property tax in the budget, so it will, in essence, be legislated for this year and will most likely be applied from 2023. Revenue is collecting data at present as part of the current revaluation to find out why places are vacant. There is not very accurate data on how many vacant properties there are or why they are vacant. They can sometimes be vacant for a good reason.

I acknowledge the increase in house prices in the year gone by, but I will point out there is one area that is positive and that we should not allow to go without mention. It is that 31,000 new homes commenced construction in the past 12 months. That is a considerable turnaround on where we were only a few years ago. Some 31,000 homes are being built at the moment, which is an increase of 49% on last year. To see a 50% increase in new homes being built during a pandemic is very significant and perhaps gives us a little hope for the next couple of years.