We know that there is a housing crisis, indeed a housing disaster. We know from today's ESRI report that there is a particular crisis for those who are renting and for those who are now facing the bleak prospect of having to rent at increasingly unaffordable levels right into their older age and therefore face no security of tenure, no security of accommodation. The ESRI report is just the latest in a litany of Government failures on housing. Will the Minister commit to adopting Labour's renters' rights Bill that we proposed constructively last September to provide greater security of tenure to those renting, better conditions for renters and a three-year rent freeze? Will the Government agree to look again at Senator Moynihan's proposal for a rent-to-buy scheme which would constructively seek to address the real needs of those who are facing an old age of renting in an insecure rental market where it is increasingly difficult to find anywhere to rent, let alone anywhere affordable?

The Government has brought in six different rental Acts since coming into office two years ago. We have capped rent increases in rent-pressure zones to 2% per annum. All new tenancies created on or after 11 June this year will become tenancies of unlimited duration after six consecutive months in occupation under the tenancy. Ultimately, the only answer here is for us to build enough homes to ensure that people have options, including cost-rental and affordable purchase, with those who qualify able to get access to a social home. That is what the Government is focused on doing. We can introduce more legislation to restrict rights of landlords and make it more difficult for them to secure vacant possession and sell a home, but more landlords will leave the market and the situation will get worse. There is a balance to be struck here to ensure we have an adequate supply of rental accommodation in the private market.

There is a myth of free education in this country. Yesterday's measures were an acknowledgement of that. They were driven by the level of fear and anxiety from parents contacting all of our offices including the Minister's talking about their dread over the cost of their children returning to school in September. It was estimated that €236 million would provide a fully free primary and secondary education in this country. It would alleviate the fear of the cost of schoolbooks and the voluntary contribution that sees a kid going home from school in October with a note in the bag saying that the parent has not yet paid it. Will the Minister commit to spending €236 million for free primary and secondary education in the budget to truly offset the fear of the return to education? For some it is a cost-of-living crisis. For others it is a cost of survival. That €236 million would go a long way to offset that.

By any objective measure we have made positive developments in education policy over the last couple of years at primary level through successive reductions in the pupil-teacher ratio, the single largest expansion of DEIS places in the history of the State and now an increase in the back-to-school allowance. We now have over 19,000 special needs assistants, SNAs, thank God, and it is the right thing to do. Almost 1,000 extra special education teachers have now been funded and will be appointed for the coming school year. We need to try to meet all the needs that exist across the board and that is before we talk about housing, on which we have just had a long exchange-----

It would take €236 million.

-----or about healthcare policy.

The Government can provide €450 million for developers.

We need to ensure we have adequate resources to make progress on all those issues. We have made real progress on education policy, including with the decisions we made yesterday.