Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the out-of-control cost of living and the never-ending price hikes that workers and families are forced to endure. I must say he came up very short in terms of a complete Government plan in respect of energy cost. It seems he is either unable or unwilling to grasp the scale of the crisis that hard-pressed households deal with every day. They know - even if the Taoiseach does not - a €100 credit will barely make a dent in their colossal energy bills.

I want to move on and ask the Taoiseach about another area that is driving the cost-of-living crisis. Rip-off rents continue to soar on his watch in Government. In fact, since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came together in 2016, rents have jumped by a colossal 46%. Last year alone rents increased by over 8%. Today the average rent is now over €1,300 a month and in Dublin the average is a staggering €1,916 per month, almost €2,000. This is extortionate. This has real consequences on people's lives. More than one third of young people in their mid to late 20s live at home with their parents. Homeownership rates are collapsing among those aged between 25 and 54, and is it any wonder? How on earth could anybody save the money for a deposit while forking out €2,000 a month to a landlord? That is before they deal with the sky-high cost of energy, fuel, groceries and, of course, childcare. It is little wonder that we hear stories from renters having to choose between putting food on the table or paying their electricity bill.

Generation rent, as they are called, is the generation cast aside by bad Government policies that continue to favour big landlords and institutional investors over the interests of those in housing need. The Taoiseach's approach is failing. His rent caps do not work for rent pressure zones and in counties where they do not apply, renters are left struggling with astronomical rises. Meanwhile, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, delivered just 5% of the affordable rental homes promised for 2021. Just 25 affordable rental homes were delivered in a whole year. That is a serious failure when renters are being crucified and are crying out for quality accommodation with fair rents that will not break the bank.

The Government has to get real now. It is as simple as that. It needs to turn away from policies that have not worked and embrace those that will. Tá cíosanna as smacht ag cabhrú leis an ngéarchéim costais mhaireachtála a spreagadh. Tá teipthe ar chur chuige an Rialtais. Tá sé thar am €1,500 a chur ar ais i bpócaí cíosóirí tríd aisíoc cánach agus cosc a chur ar arduithe cíosa ar feadh trí bliana. Renters need a break and they need it now. What the Government needs to do is to put money back in renters’ pockets by means of a tax rebate and it needs to place a ban on rent increases for three years. It needs to do this with urgency because renters cannot wait any longer for the Government to act. Let us be clear: unless the Government takes these actions, we will see more people pushed into homelessness, more young and not so young people moving back home to live with their parents and home homeownership will remain a pipe dream for an entire generation.

I thank the Deputy for raising what I have repeatedly raised in this House, and since I became Taoiseach a year and a half ago, that housing is the single most important social issue facing our country at this time. It is an enormous challenge that goes to the heart of cohesion within society and above all of giving younger generations, in particular, the opportunity to own their homes, to be able to buy homes at an affordable rate and to be able to rent at an affordable rate. In addition to that, for those who are not in a position due to income and so forth we must provide a sufficient supply of public housing to enable people to get housing at a social-housing level. That is why Housing for All represents a step change in housing policy. It is a whole-of-Government approach to increasing supply significantly and getting more houses built annually.

We were stymied and knocked back a bit due to Covid-19 in terms of the two lockdowns experienced in 2020 and 2021, but we have bounced back well in terms of construction. The good news is that up to 30,000 commencements have been recorded in the 12 months up to last September. That is very positive news. The momentum is there, as is the pipeline. Supply is important in ensuring affordability and an adequacy of housing availability across all the different models. Housing for All allows for cost rental, affordable homes, social housing, as well as private sector investment which we need. Housing for All estimates that we will need approximately €10 billion per annum of private investment in addition to the State investment of €4 billion per annum. This is an unprecedented approach to housing but we need everybody on board. I was struck by this and said it to the Deputy yesterday. When we sanctioned at Cabinet the O'Devaney Gardens project yesterday, it was an illustration of what is holding back housing policy in this country-----

Nonsense.

-----that the most recent attempts, which started in 2008 and attempts were made in 2015 to get that project off the ground, were defeated by politics-----

By Government.

-----on a consistent basis.

Greedy developers. That is how it collapsed eventually.

What the Irish people cannot afford and what the renters cannot afford is Sinn Féin and others - I apply this to everybody - consistently opposing housing projects that will increase supply.

That is not true.

That is not true.

The Taoiseach without interruption.

Sinn Féin has opposed the O'Devaney Gardens project. It has opposed developments on Oscar Traynor Road.

We campaigned for 20 years but the Government would not fund them.

It is estimated that Sinn Féin has opposed the construction of 6,000 homes. It does not stack up.

€400,000 per home. Please, Taoiseach.

What about the exemption?

Sinn Féin's performance on the ground in councils the length and breadth of the country cannot be reconciled with what Deputies are saying in this House. If we agree it is a crisis, and I do-----

It is not a crisis for the Taoiseach's developer friends.

It is a crisis, but the most effective way of dealing with it is to get housing supply in place and to give people strength and capacity in terms of incomes and jobs. At least there is good news this morning in that over the coming years the Central Bank is projecting another 167,000 additional jobs. We are responding well to the Covid recession to an extraordinary degree in terms of the jobs that will be created.

We will exceed the jobs target in our recovery plan-----

You could buy a few houses for that.

-----and will do so much earlier than was anticipated last year. Everything that can possibly be done will be done. The Deputy's proposals lack depth and substance.

Again, there is no answer to the question from the Taoiseach.

There is absolutely no evidence that they would result in any reduction in rents.

He was asked about rents.

Deputy Carthy is not the leader.

The Taoiseach's legacy is one of rising rents, rising house prices and rising homelessness figures.

The Deputy's legacy is one of rubbishing every person who provides housing for rent.

It absolutely is not.

They are all leaving the market-----

They are leaving the market because of the Taoiseach's failed policies. He is in charge. He is regulating the system.

-----because of the narrative that he has been putting forward. We are going to address this issue on all fronts. It is a very serious issue. We need to provide for it.

The time is up.

Time is definitely up.

Deputy Ó Broin should go back to Twitter.

I respectfully suggest that this endless opposition to housing projects will not help renters or the construction of houses in this country.

I ask Deputies to please adhere to the time limits set down. Can we also please give up the heckling? It does not show the House in a very good light to citizens at home looking in on proceedings.

It does not show the House in a good light when the Taoiseach does not answer the questions put to him.

I ask Deputy Carthy to show a little bit of decorum.

The Government has failed in terms of supply and affordability. Those are the facts. I will help the Taoiseach to try to absorb the reality. This image shows a storage room. This accommodation would set you back just €300 a month. That is probably considered good value in the Taoiseach's housing market. This image shows a converted hallway in Dublin. This would knock you back €910 a month. That is probably a snitch in the Taoiseach's mind. What about this image? It is from Cork. In this particular rental accommodation, you could touch your fridge if you stretched your feet out of your bed. That is the reality for generation rent. Do not dare talk to me about false narratives or claim that you understand the crisis. You clearly do not. While the Taoiseach is over there scratching his head, I have told him two things he can do that will work. He should put money back into renters' pockets by way of a tax rebate and institute a three-year freeze on rents. If he does that, we and, more importantly, generation rent and renters might believe that he finally gets it.

The Deputy says that I will finally get it. She paints a narrative that I am divorced from reality and all of that.

You are.

Okay. I just want to say that my background - where I grew up and what we had to put up with - was far different to yours.

Did you live like those living in the accommodations I have described?

I just want to make that point. I did not interrupt you. Do not dare to lecture me. I understand the realities of life as well anybody else in this House.

The Taoiseach can tell that to renters paying €2,000 a month under his watch. Shame on you.

I do not intend to understand it more. I know a thing or two about people being in difficulty and facing challenges in their early lives with regard to the cost of living and their backgrounds.

The Taoiseach should do something about it.

The most comprehensive solutions that have ever been adopted have been adopted by this Government in Housing for All.

Rubbish.

We need co-operation across the board at every level. If politicians really believe this is a crisis, they should behave accordingly-----

When the Taoiseach builds affordable homes, he will get our support.

-----and stop serially objecting to housing project after housing project because it does not fit some ideological framework.

It is because they are not affordable. €400,000 is not affordable.

You cannot have it both ways. You cannot talk to the private sector privately, as Deputy Ó Broin does, and say that you are all for private investment, that the guff and sloganeering Sinn Féin goes on with should not be listened to, and that there will be a warm house for the private sector when Sinn Féin gets into power.

The Taoiseach does not even believe that himself.

The Deputies are speaking out of both sides of their mouths.

Rents are up, house prices are up and homelessness is up. That is the Taoiseach's policy.

That is the sort of talking out of both sides of one's mouth that has been going on. I am willing to work with all parties in this House because this crisis is too big for politics. It is not enough for parties to exploit a crisis for their own electoral gain.

Stop that.

People out there do not believe in that. I genuinely think-----

You are out of time. The voters are not stupid.

I am open to proposals and ideas that will work, but not this-----

You should cut rents and freeze them.

Deputy, you are not the leader. You were not appointed leader by the politburo so just back off.

If people are going to adopt a strategy of frustrating this House by heckling constantly, I will respond by suspending the House. I ask Deputies not to make me do that and to show a little bit of respect.