The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, published its quarterly rent index this morning and it shows again that the Government's housing policy is failing dismally. In fact, it makes for fairly devastating reading, particularly for those in housing need and for those who now have their lives defined by this never-ending housing crisis. The report tells us that rents have doubled since 2011 - in a decade. We saw another big hike in new rents across the State for the last three months of last year and the average new rent in Dublin now stands at nearly €2,000. That is off the wall. I have said it so many times in this Chamber and I say it again - this is a social catastrophe. The rent crisis is hammering a generation today and robbing them of their aspirations for tomorrow, for their future. This is no way to live. It is deeply, deeply unfair. In fact, it is a horrible situation for anyone.

Of course, this is not simply an urban crisis. Rural Ireland fares no better. Counties like Donegal, Longford, Roscommon and Leitrim have all experienced massive jumps. In fact, in many towns and villages now there are no homes available to rent at all. Where are people supposed to live? How can they hope to put a roof over their heads, build a decent life or raise a family, if that is what they wish to do? How can ordinary people, families and workers be expected to pay these rip-off rents and somehow still find money to pay soaring energy bills, big childcare fees and to put food on the table?

Meanwhile, house prices go up and up and many have given up on the dream of ever owning their own home. The number of properties to rent continues to fall right across the State and this does not just push up the cost of renting; it is also forcing many families into homelessness. Since the Government launched its housing plan, the scourge of homelessness has escalated once more. We are now close to breaking the pre-Covid peak of 10,000 homeless people. That, by the way, is just the official figure.

The facts speak for themselves. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, have failed spectacularly to get a grip on this crisis. The fact is that their housing plan is not fit for purpose because it is underpinned by the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place. Theip ar pholasaí tithíochta an Taoisigh. Teastaíonn freagairt éigeandála uainn a oibríonn do gach duine a bhfuil riachtanas tithíochta acu. Ciallaíonn sé sin cíosanna a ghearradh, cosc a chur ar mhéaduithe cíosa ar feadh trí bliana agus plean ón Rialtas a chuireann an méid tithe sóisialta agus tithe ar phraghas réasúnta atá ag teastáil ar fáil.

Housing can be fixed. Extortionate rents can be tackled. This generation can have the opportunity of a good life but it is not going to happen by chance. It requires a big change in direction and ambition from Government. Those caught up in this crisis need a real plan that leaves no person or family behind. There are things the Government can do now that will make a big difference. It can cut rents by putting €1,500 back into renters' pockets through a tax rebate and it can ban rent increases for three years. I have asked the Taoiseach countless times for this and I am asking again today. The Government can change its housing plan and ramp it up for social and affordable housing.

Níl an ceart ag an Teachta. Tá fianaise ann go bhfuil polasaí an Rialtais ag obair. Tá níos mó tithíochta á cruthú againn. Tá sé sin soiléir ó na figiúirí atá againn maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta.

The Deputy is not correct in saying that the Housing for All strategy, launched last September, is not working. It is working. There has been a rebound in construction activity since we emerged from Covid. Covid did cause difficulties. It closed down construction for a substantial period in 2020 and 2021 and the impacts of that are still being felt. Notwithstanding that, 35,000 homes were commenced in the year to March 2022. That is the highest rolling 12-month average since 2008. That is a significant figure - 35,000 new commencements. There were 31,000 homes commenced in 2021, the highest since 2008. There were 24,000 apartments commenced, while the number of apartments completed increased by over 30% year on year. There were 43,000 planning permissions granted in 2021, a fourfold increase on 2011 but we still need more supply. Housing for All is a substantive suite of policies that is designed to increase supply. That is fundamental.

The RTB index relates to new tenancies. The ESRI is saying that if it was not for the rent pressure zones, RPZs, and the restriction of increases to 2% that rents would be far higher in existing tenancies. The RPZs are having an impact but in terms of new tenancies, the increases are very worrying. They are not satisfactory but they are related to the supply issue. There is an onus on everybody to facilitate the supply of housing. Sinn Féin objects to build-to-rent developments here in the Republic. Deputy McDonald keeps opposing it and her party opposes it in terms of planning applications and so on, on a consistent basis, and yet in Belfast there is no difficulty. Her party supports 800 apartments in Belfast in a big development there of build-to-rent units. It is a different policy in the North that her party engages in, which is in complete contrast to how it operates in the Republic in terms of its opposition to a whole series of developments.

The cost-rental initiative within Housing for All is very important. The first cost-rental tenancies are now in place in Balbriggan and Leixlip, with rental prices at least 40% below comparable market levels. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage opened 50 further cost-rental homes in Stepaside last April. We have targeted 9,000 new-build social homes in 2022 but Sinn Féin has never explained how you can double that in one year. The party just threw that figure out there, with no substance. It is top-of-the-head stuff. Working with people in the field and in the Department, we have said that we want to target 9,000 new builds in social housing for 2022, between approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the local authorities and we will continue to do that. Since the Government came into office, because of a new emphasis on voids, we have brought back close to 6,000 local authority voids for reallocation to those on the social housing list. A further 2,000 will be brought back in 2022.

A range of initiatives is being taken to increase supply significantly and as I said, that has happened. In Dublin, for example, we are 78% up on the number of units commenced in the year to March 2022 as against March 2021. Outside of Dublin, we are up by 139%.

We seem to be going around in circles here. The Taoiseach does not dispute the facts in the report from the RTB as presented this morning. I am assuming he does not contest the fact that rents are out of control right across this State, that people are struggling to make these rents, that house prices continue to climb and climb or that homelessness is again at crisis proportions. All of these facts indicate that the policy the Government is pursuing is getting it wrong. The Government is getting it wrong.

I asked the Taoiseach about two specific measures where the Government can get it right. I asked him about a tax credit and tax rebate for the hundreds of thousands of renters caught in the grip of a cost of living crisis. Will he introduce a tax rebate that puts a month's rent back into renters' pockets? Will he finally move to instigate a rent freeze for three years? I ask him to answer these questions for me directly.

The rent index is designed to measure developments in rental prices faced by those taking up new tenancies. A tax credit would only add to the price of those rents. It would be inflationary. There is no guarantee it would result in a reduction of increasing rents for new tenancies, none whatsoever. The Deputy is wrong in saying the Housing for All policies are not working. By definition, 35,000 commencements to March is the highest rolling 12-month average since 2008. There is a lot of activity in the construction sector. A lot of houses are being built in the private sector and through social housing, cost rental and a number of other schemes. Through the shared equity scheme and various other schemes we have introduced, we will help those buying new houses. The Deputy opposed the help to buy scheme. She was against it. That was designed to help thousands of young people to buy their homes. I do not know why she opposed it but she did.