Yes. Well, any answer, whether in 30 seconds or two seconds, would be great.

I call Deputy McDonald.

I have raised with the Taoiseach many times the real stress on families now with the costs of getting children back to school in September. I have also acknowledged that it is welcome that the back to school allowance has been increased by €100. We also ask that this allowance be extended. Many middle-income families are struggling badly, and they will not qualify for one red cent. I want the Taoiseach to reconsider this and to make the allowance available to those households. We reckon that 500,000 additional children ought to be covered. They come from middle-income families and they need a break.

The back to school allowance being increased is a good thing, as are the expansion of the schools meals programme and the elimination of school transport fees for the coming academic year for primary and second-level schools. Regarding the broader issues mentioned by the Deputy, €2.5 billion has so far been implemented in respect of cost-of-living measures. The forthcoming cost-of-living package at the end of September will deal with the group she referred to. It will have greater breadth altogether in helping them and reducing the stress.

Since this Government took office, rents have increased by 15%. Media reports last weekend showed that a legislative loophole in rent pressure zone laws has enabled cuckoo funds to contribute to this problem, charging exorbitant rents, for example, €2,140 per month for a one-bed apartment and up to €5,220 per month for a three-bed.

Until the Government reins these funds in, it is difficult to see the situation resolving itself. While we are due to rise for the summer recess this week, struggling renters cannot afford to wait. Will the Government bring forward legislation to close this loophole and ensure some measures are taken to address the power of cuckoo funds in the market?

The Government is doing everything it possibly can to protect renters. They need to be protected and rent pressure zones are doing that. Some of the measures in the Bill to be taken tomorrow, which people have been objecting to, will also help facilitate the provision of more units for longer-term renters as opposed to short-term lets.

The Dáil is about to rise for the summer and as it does, the Government leaves a trail of housing misery in its wake. The Government has earned the dubious distinction of breaking a number of housing records. A record number of people are now homeless, including an increase of nearly 50% in the number of children who have become homeless in the past year. Rents are at record high and extortionate levels. House prices are at record high levels and are unaffordable for the vast majority of workers. Homeownership rates are at record low levels. Last year, a report by the ESRI stated that the current generation of young people would be the first to be worse off than their parents. This year, an ESRI report stated that Generation Rent faces an age of poverty going into old age. What exactly does treating the housing emergency like an emergency mean to the Government, because we are not seeing it at the minute?

There is another side to the story, which the Deputy did not articulate, in that 43,000 planning permission applications were granted in 2021 and 30,000 new homes had commenced in the year up to May 2022. As I said earlier, Ireland has gone from the third lowest level of completions per capita in 2011 to the fifth highest in 2020. Some 31,000 homes commenced in 2021, but we need to do more. There will be a record number of social houses in 2022 but we need to continue that trend for the next ten years.