One year ago, a wealthy cuckoo fund bought an entire estate of family homes in Maynooth. I am sure the Taoiseach remembers that. Instead of taking comprehensive action then, the Government introduced a token 10% stamp duty increase. It was warned at the time that this would not stop these funds and that these funds would easily absorb that increase by charging massive rents, on which they pay no tax. That is exactly what happened. Since the Government introduced its measure, funds have bought 350 family homes. These funds are still running rampant. Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, said that he would now review this approach. That will not cut it. To halt the gallop of these funds and to give ordinary home buyers a chance, the Government must ramp up stamp duty to deter these funds, as well as end the tax advantages they enjoy. Crucially, the Government needs to apply these measures to apartments as well as houses because apartments are family homes too.

With regard to that housing estate in Kildare last year, it was not bought out by funds. The majority of those homes went on the open market while the remainder have been acquired by Kildare County Council for social and affordable housing under the terms of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. There is an endless attempt to spin this issue, but the facts are the facts. That estate was not bought out by the funds, as the Deputy has asserted. Also, in terms of the objectives, the planning laws we introduced on this last year have worked. Some 15,883 residential units have received planning permission since May 2021. Basically, in the space of 12 months, almost 16,000 residential units have been planned for or reserved or received planning permission for individual purchasers. The number of 350 is out of 16,000, so there needs to be balance and perspective here.

Thank you, Taoiseach. The time is up.

The planning measures that were introduced have worked in terms of protecting the individual owner. Certainly, we will keep everything under review, but there must be a little balance and perspective. The funds are not dominant in the Irish housing market. The Deputy keeps saying they are, but they absolutely are not dominant in the housing market.

The time is up, Taoiseach.

Last year, out of 20,000 houses, some 9,000 were social housing. Nearly 50% of the 20,000 houses last year were social houses.