Workers, students, pensioners, renters and single parents are sick and tired of the false promises, the failed plans and the half measures to deal with the crushing cost-of-living crisis and, most importantly, the housing disaster people are facing, which gets worse by the day. That is why at 1 p.m. this Saturday, in Parnell Square and five other locations across the country, we in the Cost of Living Coalition hope to see thousands of people come out on the streets to express their fury at the Government’s failure to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and the disastrous housing crisis.

Yesterday, as if we needed reminding, the President had to come out to call the Government to account for what he rightly described as the "great, great failure" of this Government and Republic to deal with the housing disaster over which the Government is presiding. He said that the job of a Government is to build homes-----

Deputy, there is an honourable and long tradition------

Come on.

-----that we do not become involved in the analysis of or debate the statements of the President.

The clock is ticking.

We will stop the clock, then. I am not saying we cannot make reference to the President but we do not need to quote him. We all know what the man said, so please.

I would think that the President would like to be quoted.

Yes, I think he would be happy to be quoted.

Why is it that we hear Government Ministers are saying that the President crossed the line or that he was even embarrassing? These are Government Ministers when he simply expressed-----

Sorry, Deputy.

This is incredible.

It is not incredible. There is a separation of powers. In this Chamber we do not drag the President into any controversy. Please respect that.

He has been referenced already on a couple of occasions, but nobody else was pulled up.

Referencing is fine, but the Deputy is trying to elaborate on that.

It is okay for the Ministers to elaborate on it, though.

Yes.

It is not for anyone in here to elaborate. Let me be very clear about that. The same rule applies to everybody.

I was delighted to quote the President earlier. His remarks were absolutely correct.

Fine.

When the President referred to the poor law system that we thought we had left behind us as still being present, he was obviously referring to what is truly embarrassing, namely, the fact that there are 10,000 families, households, individuals and, worst of all, children in emergency accommodation. The situation has got worse and worse month after month under the auspices of this Government. There are 136,000 families on social housing waiting lists, some for a decade or two decades. There are an estimated 136,000 vacant properties, often being sat on by investors and speculators who this Government allowed to run riot and destroy the housing sector, while benefiting from the misery of tens of thousands of people who cannot afford the obscene rents or house prices and who were, in many cases, then driven into homelessness.

Was the President not right when he described this as a disaster? Are the people - the workers, students, pensioners and renters - who are going to come out on the streets this Saturday to protest and say they have had enough not right to be fed up and sick and tired of this Government's failure to do the most basic thing of putting an affordable roof over the heads of the people of this country?

I thank the Deputy. I will point out before the Minister responds that it is inappropriate in this House to analyse or critique any statement made by the President.

The Government appreciates the challenges, anxiety, stress and trauma that so many face as they look for an affordable home or a home they can be confident they will be able to afford to rent in the future and experienced by all those who have been waiting on social housing lists for so many years looking for the opportunity to have a roof over their head that they can call home. We appreciate this and we are determined to make progress on it. However, this is the reason we have such investment by the Government going directly into building more homes on State land, by the State, through local authorities. It is the reason we have plans in place for this year that will deliver up to 9,000 social homes across the country. These social homes are now being built across Dublin and many other cities to respond to the needs and issues we know so many are experiencing at the moment.

Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to where we are with homelessness. We acknowledge that we are seeing an increase in homelessness levels. Every family, child and person who is homeless at the moment is one too many. We are doing all we can to respond to that and make a difference to it. However, it is the reason we have set aside over €100 million in Housing for All to make a difference and put in place the interventions to get families and children out of emergency accommodation and into their own homes and give them the accommodation they need. It is the reason we are so committed to the public, social and affordable housing plans I have outlined in response to questions from Deputies today.

I appreciate that when Deputies are dealing with families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, it gives us an insight into the sheer worry, concern and anxiety they have about a future that is so uncertain. The answer to that is to build more homes through our local authorities. That is what is happening. We will spare no effort in continuing to ensure that the local authority housing targets we have set are met. We are seeing clear signs of progress being made. More homes have commenced, more homes have secured planning permission and more homes were completed over the past 12 months. These will provide a foundation, after the effects of a pandemic during which our construction sector was closed for so long, to make quicker and more effective progress on the housing needs the Deputy described. While I accept these are real, I would argue to the Deputy that the Government is also making progress in responding to them.

There are talks, plans and promises but the reality is the situation just gets worse. More people are homeless and more are being threatened with eviction. Rents are rising to obscene levels and are still going higher. House prices are at obscene levels and are still going higher. Families who have done nothing wrong are being evicted. Students cannot get accommodation that is anything even approaching affordable. It just gets worse. That is why I invite people who are fed up - and I think the majority of people are fed up and think this is a disaster - to get out on the streets this Saturday and march to force this Government finally to listen.

Frankly, the Minister is not telling the truth when he says the local authorities are building more public housing. I just got the figures from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on the social housing it will build for the next four years. Out of 2,300 houses, approximately 10% will be directly built by the council. For the rest, it is relying on private developers. This is the truth of what is going on. Anybody can just look around the city to see the apartment blocks going up. They are not being built by councils but investors charging obscene rents and prices. That is the truth.

It is not true.

Those homes will then be available for use by the local authorities-----

The figure is 10%.

Deputy Boyd Barrett knows the truth. He knows well that the houses he has just referenced will then be used by the local authority in his area to respond to housing needs and clear the housing list.

That is a fact. The Deputy comes in here and makes the case about the truth. Any Deputy who is trying to respond to the housing needs within his or her constituency knows a share of the houses being built by private developers and interests is used by the local authority to house people.

It is a tiny percentage.

The Deputy referred to talk, commitments and the time for speaking being over. The reality is 977 homes being built in Dundrum, 817 in Balbriggan, 345 in Skerries and 219 in Naas by the Land Development Agency.

Thank you, Minister. The time is up.

These are planning applications that are in to build the homes we need while our local authorities are directly building thousands of homes across the country this year to make progress on the great challenge on which we know faster progress needs to be made.

Why is it getting worse?