The homelessness figures published on Friday showed an increase of 23% in the past year. These are alarming figures. We know a major cause of homelessness is the lack of protection for renters against evictions and simply a lack of supply of sufficient homes for rental. In my constituency of Dublin Bay South, we have a particularly high proportion of households and individuals who are reliant on private rental accommodation. It is one of the reasons that last autumn, the first Bill I introduced in this House as a Deputy was a renters' rights Bill, which was legislation seeking to ensure greater security of tenure for tenants, in addition to ensuring better quality of life, better standards in rental accommodation and a three-year rent freeze to protect against the sort of dreadful hikes in rents we have seen.

I ask the Taoiseach for an update as to whether and when we can see some of the principles in that legislation being brought into force. It was not opposed by the Government and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, said he would look forward to working with me to bring aspects of it into effect.

In the first instance, the overall homeless figures remain significantly below the peak of October 2019, but the upward trend remains a serious issue of concern for the Government. A number of factors underpin that increase. It needs to be pointed out that the current level of family homelessness at 1,080 is 34% below the peak figure recorded in July 2018. The number of children under-18 associated with these families is 31% below the peak level recorded in September 2019.

This Government has introduced approximately six rental Acts to deal with a whole range of issues, including protection. We will work with the Deputy and other Members to see how we can further enhance that.