I express my condolences to the families of the children murdered in Robb Elementary School in Texas. Our thoughts are with the heartbroken families at this time.

Along with the Ceann Comhairle and the rest of the team here I welcome to the Dáil the First Minister-designate and her team. I wish her all the best as she leads the assembly into this term.

Insím don Aire, nach bhfuil dabht ar bith ná go bhfuil polasaí tithe an Rialtais ag teip mar is scannalach an plean atá ag an Rialtas chun €450 milliún d'airgead cáiníocóirí na tíre seo a thabhairt d'fhorbróirí chun tithe a thógáil nach bhfuil aon duine ábalta a cheannach, mar go bhfuil siad ró-dhaor. Is ag filleadh ar pholasaí Fhianna Fáil a bhris an córas tithíochta atá an Rialtas seo agus ba chóir deireadh a chur leis. We have had three reports in recent weeks that highlight in the sharpest way the failure of the Minister and the Government to get to grips with the housing crisis. Extortionate rents continue to soar with the number of rental properties now at an all-time low. Off-the-wall house prices have increased again beyond the reach of ordinary workers and families. The scourge of homelessness is returning to the shameful pre-Covid-19 levels. We now hear the Minister's targets for housing are under serious threat due to spiralling construction costs. By any objective measure the Minister's approach is failing and he is failing spectacularly. The housing crisis being created by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is defining the life of an entire generation. On the Minister's watch things have gone from bad to worse. Is it any wonder that newspapers now refer to the housing crisis as a decade of shame?

Amid this social catastrophe what do we get from the Minister with responsibility for housing? Is it a ban on rent increases and evictions? No. Is it a serious ramping up of direct delivery of genuinely affordable homes? No. Is it an initiative to cut rents? Not on the Minister's watch. What we get instead is a bonkers scheme whereby he will gift €450 million of taxpayers' money to developers to build apartments with no reduction in the prices that will be charged to home owners. It is absolutely off the wall. The Minister will pay these developers out of the public purse to build apartments that only those earning the highest salaries will be able to afford. The question needs to be asked again as to what planet the Minister is living on with this type of scheme.

It gets worse because the Minister is not being entirely honest about his madcap plan. Last week in the Dáil he quoted purchase prices of €250,000 for the apartments to be delivered under the scheme. According to an unpublished document circulated between developers and the Housing Agency, the anticipated open market value of a one-bed apartment is €320,000, a two-bed apartment is €390,000 and a three-bed apartment is €445,000. Where is the Minister getting the €250,000 he spoke about in the Dáil last week? All he has to do is take a look at daft.ie. Apartments for sale in the city of Dublin command average prices of between €400,000 and €500,000. This is on the Minister's watch.

Why is the Minister raising the hopes of people looking to buy a home when he knows his scheme will only dash these hopes once again? The truth is his scheme will not deliver affordable housing for people. Is this not the truth? The Minister knows it and we know it. Why does he not tell the people straight? It is straight from the old Fianna Fáil playbook that destroyed the housing system at the start when it was previously in government. It is big handouts to developers and home ownership only for those who are the wealthiest. I urge the Minister to come to his senses and scrap this scheme. I am asking him instead to invest the €450 million to fund local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver affordable homes that ordinary families and workers can buy.

I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom mo fhíor-chomhbhrón a ghabháil leis na daoine sna Stáit Aontaithe, go mór mór na daoine áitiúla in Valdes Texas tar éis dúnmharú uafásach na leanaí ann. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse. On behalf of the Government I send our deepest sympathies to those affected by the terrible murder of innocent children in Texas. Our thoughts are with their families and their communities.

Maidir leis an gceist shonrach tithíochta a thagair an Teachta di, tá an plean is láidre agus is tábhachtaí ná riamh de €4 billiún ann d'infheistíocht ar thithíocht sóisialta agus ar thithíocht inacmhainne freisin. Cabhróidh an plean seo agus oibreoidh sé. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta faoi sin. Níl aon phlean ar chor ar bith ag Sinn Féin. Is é an plean atá ag Sinn Féin ná a bheith in aghaidh gach rud. The Government has a housing plan that is working. It has €4 billion of investment and €1.2 billion per annum more than Sinn Féin proposed in its 16-page policy document, eight pages of which are pictures of cups of coffee and its spokesperson on housing. We are very serious about increasing supply and supply is increasing. There are affordability issues no question. This is why we passed the Affordable Housing Act, the most comprehensive legislation on affordability that has ever come before the House. Sinn Féin supported it and did not come up with alternatives to it. There are a number of measures within it, particularly on the delivery of affordable housing through local authorities, which we are doing. This year we will see homes sold at €166,000 and upwards throughout the country. For people stuck in the rental and affordability trap we will open the first home shared equity scheme.

It will help thousands of young, and not so young, people bridge the gap between the finance they have and the finance they need by the State taking an equity stake, not by getting a second mortgage as Sinn Féin and its housing spokesperson claimed last year. Sinn Féin supported the Act and I welcome that. It is about supply and activating dormant planning permissions that exist. The Croí Cónaithe cities fund is a targeted measure to ensure people can own apartments in the five major cities in the country on an open book basis where the support goes to the purchaser, not the developer. Sinn Féin knows this but it does not suit its narrative, which is to oppose measures on every issue and say the measures are not working. We have had the highest number of commencements in the year to March 2022 than there has been since 2007. We also have had the highest number of first-time buyer mortgages in the 12 months to March 2022 than there has been since 2007.

We will support people in owning their own homes because we believe in homeownership. While doing that, we are also delivering more social homes this year than have ever been delivered before, in any year since the foundation of the State. We are doing that even though the Deputy and his colleagues across the Twenty-six Counties continue repeatedly to object and cause delays.

No.

If the Deputies want like specific examples, the Deputy's party leader sitting beside him has become a serial objector to developments too. Sinn Féin opposed Oscar Traynor Road.

Ask the Minister, Deputy Martin.

Ask your own councillors.

Sinn Féin opposed Ballymastone and the 253 social and affordable homes and, yes, some private homes too. Private ownership is not illegal either. Sinn Féin has opposed Ballymastone, Oscar Traynor Road, O'Devaney Gardens and any scheme that comes forward because it does not want to see progress. We have a plan that will work.

Enough of the Minister's spoofing. Here are a couple of home truths. He has been in the Department for a couple of years. House prices are going through the roof. Entire generations have been locked out of homeownership under his watch. Rents are spiralling out of control. They are increasing dramatically in many counties, which means people are becoming homeless. Homelessness is nearly back at record levels. That is the Minister's plan and it is not working.

I have the confidential document to hand about Croí Cónaithe that he has not been published. It is not about reducing the market value for the buyers. The cost of a three-bedroom apartment is to be €445,000. What planet is the Minister living on? Which families, workers and ordinary people can afford that amount? To whom is the cheque written to? It is written to the developers, to the amount of €144,000. It is straight out of the Fianna Fáil playbook during the times of the Galway tent. We know who the plans are working for. They are not working for ordinary families and workers. They are not working for renters or the generation who are locked out of homeownership. What the Minister needs to do is come to his senses, scrap that plan, invest the €450 million into local authorities, approved housing schemes, and build affordable homes for workers and families.

The Minister, without interruption.

He does encourage us sometimes.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh should try to restrain himself if he can. The reality is that, at every juncture, Sinn Féin has tried to distort the truth. This is a targeted measure to support homeownership in our five major cities, in which the support goes directly to the homeowner.

That is not true. He is misleading the Dáil. I have the document.

Deputy Doherty should try to calm down a little bit. By the way, that document is not a secret document. We published all the details on Croí Cónaithe online. Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson did not even know that last week when he asked me where the document was. Sinn Féin needs to do a bit more homework.

Who do you write the cheque to?

You write the cheque to the developer.

Sinn Féin is opposed to build to buy. We know it is opposed to build to rent, even though we need more rental properties. We need a balance between ownership. We want homeownership and apartments in which people-----

The Minister misled the Dáil - 250,000.

Hold on a second. Will you just let me respond? You might not like the answers. Do not shout me down. I will not be bullied by you. I will be allowed to speak.

There is a track record that the Deputy might not want to talk about. Sinn Féin is opposed to build to rent and now it is opposed to build to buy.

Thank you, Minister. The time is up.

I am opposed to putting taxpayers' money into the pockets of developers and charging nearly half a million for an apartment.

Time is up.

I asked what Deputy Doherty is actually for. It is very little. He does not want to-----

Anybody with sense is opposed to that.

Please, Deputy Doherty.

There is really no point in trying to respond when the Deputy keeps interrupting.

The Minister is out of time for a response.

This happens regularly, and that is fine.

Yes. You did it to me last week.

The proof is in the figures of the number of commencements. That is what is happening. Improvements are taking place. We are not there yet at all.

Thank you, Minister.

We know that but we are being honest with people.

Thank you, Minister.

Answer the 250,000 question.

Do not try to distort the truth, Pearse.

Answer the 250,000 question.

Stop shouting. Calm down, Pearse, please, would you? Just calm a bit.

I again appeal to Deputies. Can we conduct our business in a semi-civilised and orderly manner, please?

In a proper parliamentary fashion.

Thank you, Deputy Ó Snodaigh. In a proper parliamentary fashion.