This week sees yet another disaster in Government housing policy as workers and families across Ireland continue to endure a worsening housing crisis and those fleeing a terrible war in Ukraine were left to sleep in Dublin Airport because there was no accommodation for them. Last March, the Taoiseach said the State would accommodate 200,000 Ukrainian refugees but he had no real plan as to how he would meet that commitment. The Irish people have welcomed some 60,000 refugees from Ukraine and the system is already overwhelmed. On Friday next, the latest homelessness figures are to be published and all indicators suggest that we will see another shameful increase in people in emergency accommodation. Meanwhile an entire generation is locked out of affordable housing and opportunity. They weigh up the prospect of life from Boston, Perth or Toronto.

All the strands of this social catastrophe are linked by the Government’s failure to plan, organise and ultimately its failure to deliver. There is no doubt that the Government is top of the class when it comes to announcing big targets that grab the headlines. It gets an A+ on that score. But time and again it falls short when it comes to delivery. This failure to plan and deliver means we now see crisis heaped upon crisis. We see massive pressure heaped onto a housing system that is already broken beyond recognition. And this means that everyone loses. You lose if you have spent years desperately searching for an affordable home and you also lose if you come here to this country fleeing a terrible war in search of shelter and help. So people are now frustrated. They asked how on earth it is that nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Government is now scrambling to put together a plan. How is it that the Government is appealing to the public for help but at the same time, people's offers to accommodate refugees are being ignored? It seems that the Government’s approach was to outsource the State's response, cross its fingers and hope for the best. What people see is the same incompetence and infuriating lack of pace that the Government has brought to addressing the domestic housing crisis. Not content with denying our own people the right to an affordable, secure roof over their heads, the Government now extends its catastrophic failure to those coming to Ireland seeking humanitarian assistance.

De thairbhe theip an Rialtais tabhairt faoi phleanáil, tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta imithe in olcas agus an Stát faoi bhrú lóistín a sholáthar dóibh siúd atá ag éalú ón chogadh. Cuireann an teip seo géarchéim ar ghéarchéim agus brú ollmhór ar chóras atá briste.

People are sick of the Government's excuses for its failures in housing. It claims that housing is its number one priority but it is now time to back up those words with what matters: delivery. We all know there is a housing shortage but what is the Government doing to ensure offers of accommodation for those fleeing war will come on stream quickly? The outsourcing system is not fit for purpose. When will we see a change in Government housing policy to ensure members of the locked-out generation can finally put an affordable and secure roof over their heads?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Her commentary and some of the debate on this issue in recent days has become somewhat detached from the reality we find ourselves confronted with. We need to be very clear about what this is all about, what has happened, where we are and where we go from here. The first thing that has to be done is to acknowledge and pay tribute to the extraordinary Irish national effort in response to Putin's illegal and immoral invasion of his neighbour, Ukraine. We have all watched in horror as this man has ordered ruthless attacks on civilians by air, land and sea, displacing up to 7.2 million people all over Europe. He is doing it with greater intensity now by raining down drones on the people of Ukraine and their energy infrastructure. We have responded to that terror with unprecedented warmth, generosity and support. More than 55,000 Ukrainians have sought and received refuge in our country, one of the highest figures within the EU, which the Deputy does not acknowledge. She calls it a disaster, which is extraordinary language to be using. Approximately 43,000 of those are being accommodated by the State in various ways. In addition, we have accommodated 9,000 seeking international protection. This number will rise to about 14,000 by the end of the year. That is not a story of failure; it is a story of families in every corner of this country and communities across this country opening their homes and hearts to people who are fleeing war. That is the story of Ireland's response to the war in Ukraine. The Deputy should not try to have it both ways and try to play crude domestic politics. It is a story of a massive effort by our public servants across the board, across Government and across the country. It is a story about people understanding how much it means to help people fleeing war in another land.

We need to be careful of the implications of how this gets articulated. The only person I see who would get solace from what the Deputy said and the manner in which she said it is Putin himself. That is what Putin wants to do. He wants to create the impression across Europe that Europe cannot cope with or manage this. That is why the Iranian drones are being dropped all over Ukraine right now, destroying energy infrastructure. It is because Putin wants to make life unbearable for Ukrainians and the country uninhabitable. Therefore, we have to make sure that he does not succeed with that agenda. Right across the board, we have provided a range of accommodation options, not just one, and we will continue to do so. We will continue to work in solidarity with our EU colleagues in terms of the directive to protect and do everything we can to help Ukrainians fleeing war. That will be achieved through a range of options, including procuring accommodation, building fresh accommodation and reconfiguring buildings. There will be challenges along the way and there will be ups and downs and bumps along the road. Of that, let there be no doubt. This will be the case throughout Europe; it is not an Irish phenomenon. Many other capital cities and countries are challenged by this unprecedented humanitarian crisis, brought about by the war in Ukraine. It is unprecedented since the Second World War to have millions of people displaced and forced out of their homes by a war. That is the context. I do not accept the Deputy's analysis of it at all.

In some respects as well, I note that the Deputy has intertwined this issue with the housing crisis. The only incompetent thing I saw in recent weeks was a suggestion that we should do what the former UK Government did in regard to energy.

There is no need to convince anyone of either the vile criminal actions of Vladimir Putin or the incredible generosity and warmth that has been displayed by the Irish people. Those are objective matters of fact. The difficulty is that the Taoiseach has not matched the effort by the Irish people with Government action.

Hear, hear.

That is the reality here. The facts, as reported and acknowledged by everyone bar the Taoiseach, are that people fleeing from Ukraine arrived and there was nowhere for them to go. They slept in the airport. There was talk of some perhaps being left homeless and having to sleep on the streets. We can all agree that is not an acceptable situation. I have asked the Taoiseach to set out for us what the Government response will be to that.

People are well used to the Government and the housing crisis that people have lived through for a decade and longer, and now we have crisis upon crisis. What is the Taoiseach's answer in respect of these individuals arriving?

I call on the Taoiseach to respond. We are over time.

Why is he only cobbling together a plan now?

The Deputy has just acknowledged that up to 54,000 Ukrainians have been accommodated in this country, and 43,000 of them have been accommodated by the State. That is not cobbling together a plan.

Hear, hear.

That is a reality. That has happened. We never before had to deal with such numbers coming into the country. We have to deal with it because of a war. It is a vicious war and we have said, along with our European Union colleagues, that we will do everything we can to accommodate Ukrainians, and we have. That must be acknowledged. The Deputy described all of that as a disaster.

She commented that we could not do our own as well. I know what that is targeted at. I know why that phrase was used.

Shame on you.

The Deputy used that phrase at the beginning of her remarks and I know why she used it and who it was targeted at.

That is a disgrace.

She is playing both sides in this debate, and I regret that she is.

That is an outrageous remark. It is the Taoiseach who is leaving people homeless.

She is not the first member of her party to play that game either.

It is a shame on the Taoiseach.

We are over time.

That is a disgrace. It is beneath the Taoiseach.

We will continue to do everything we possibly can to deal with the housing crisis.

Thousands are homeless.

We are doing that, right across the board in terms of affordable housing and so on.

We are over time. Deputy Ó Broin should not interrupt.

In regard to the humanitarian crisis that has been imposed upon Europe by Putin's appallingly immoral and illegal war-----

We are way over time.

-----we will do everything we can to respond. We are responding and have responded as a country.

Hear, hear.

Shame on you.

That is the language Deputy McDonald used.

I am moving on to Páirtí an Lucht Oibre.

It is nice to see the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has appeared. Where has he been?

Deputy Ó Broin should have a word with his colleagues.

Members should please show some respect. I call on the leader of the Labour Party.