I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that there are great concerns in respect of housing. The housing crisis is felt in every part of the country. Not a day goes by without people calling to my constituency office looking for a home or somewhere to stay. There is a severe housing shortage, spiralling rental costs, and in Louth alone, rents have gone up by 8%. This is hitting everybody and all walks of life.

I invite the Taoiseach today, together with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O’Brien, seated beside him, to come to my home town of Dundalk to visit three areas. At present there are about 30 unoccupied council houses in Dundalk. I appreciate the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is paying €11,000 to local authorities to get these houses back on the market. It is taking approximately between six and seven months, if not longer, to get this done. These are called void reports. There are 30 families in Dundalk alone, not Drogheda or Ardee, who could walk into these homes tomorrow morning.

The second issue is that I want the Taoiseach to come to visit a site on the outskirts of Dundalk. This developer has planning permission for 500 houses and is willing to put in 150 to 200 modular homes. These modular homes are fully serviced, are close to schools and shops, and the developer, as I have said, is willing to go ahead with these. These are family homes for people who are in a very bad situation at the moment and who could be on the waiting list of Louth County Council for as long as ten years. I have asked all my constituents if they would be willing to go into modular homes and they would be delighted to have a roof over their heads. As homelessness is at record heights at the moment, this would be a win-win situation for all.

I would then like to take the Taoiseach and the Minister to a factory about ten miles from Dundalk which manufactures modular homes. These are three- and four-bedroom, top-class and fully fitted modular homes. They take between four and five weeks to put them together. The company is willing to put a team together to facilitate these 150 to 200 homes. I have seen these houses myself. They are high-spec family homes and, again, I believe it is a win-win for everybody.

With homeownership declining, and no further homes to buy, it is very important we do this. The present cost to rent a property in Dundalk and the Louth area is €1,420, and that is the cheapest.

I ask the Taoiseach to give assurances on the issues I have raised and that he and the Minister will come to Dundalk. This is just one area and, as I have said, there are many other areas such as Drogheda and Ardee. The Taoiseach is always asking for solutions. To me this is a win-win for all. People at the moment are only talking about modular homes for Ukrainians. I have no problem with that but I have people coming to my constituency office asking me, where there is a house for rent, to please contact them or the auctioneer. I could have possibly 20 to 30 such people calling in a day. This is a win-win for all. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, come to Dundalk to have a look?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the constructive manner in which he has approached it. From what the Deputy has outlined, I have suggested to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, that he should go up to County Louth for the weekend, where the Deputy could take him around to a few more sites. The Deputy's points are well made.

Housing is the biggest issue facing us as a society and we have to facilitate all construction types. We have to reduce and stop objecting left, right and centre to various projects that are coming forward because the scale of the housing need is such that we have to get progress on planning permissions and on housing projects that are well designed. There have been too many objections over recent years - there is no point in saying otherwise - and these are objections which do not match the crisis. Everybody needs a mindset change in respect of the enormousness of the challenge facing us in housing, in the war on Ukraine, on migration generally, and on those accessing emergency accommodation. The scale of this is quite enormous.

The Deputy's point on voids is well made. Approximately 7,000 voids have been brought back into use in the two years since the Government came into office. The Minister has given particular attention to ensuring houses are not left idle for any unreasonable length of time and that local authorities get in there - we have provided the funding - and get those houses back into use. Given the current crisis, it is not good enough that any house would be left void for any period of time.

Modular or rapid-build housing, which is the term I prefer, because these are good, high quality houses with a significant cost per unit, will have to form part of the wider housing building programme we have into the future. The companies the Deputy is talking about require certainty over a reasonable period of time in terms of the volumes that need to be constructed. In addition to our conventionally built houses, we need more rapid-build and more timber-framed homes also. We as a country are unusually low in percentage terms in timber-framed homes compared with other countries like Scotland. We are therefore developing plans to get additional rapid-build homes over and above the 700 we have already identified in respect of the Ukrainian situation and so that these types of homes would be used more broadly. Again, the capacity exists in the country to do what the Deputy is proposing in respect of rapid-build homes. Other countries are also doing that and it is something we can do.

If we get the first projects off the ground, people will develop more confidence in this form of housing. That is why I am anxious, if I can, to get up to see the company and the areas Deputy Fitzpatrick has identified. If I cannot, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will certainly do so. If there is a person who can provide 500 houses on a particular site, we should facilitate him or her and enable that project to be accelerated as quickly as possible because there is great need out there.

I said earlier on that there had been no objections to this project, which would comprise 150 to 200 modular homes. This developer is willing to help with the current housing crisis. These houses are family homes with a front and back garden. The people who come to me do not want to rear their children in apartments. They want them to have a normal life in a very safe environment. I will again use the term "shovel-ready". The electricity, sewage and gas infrastructure is ready. There are schools, shops and everything else in the vicinity. The Government is talking about putting billions aside. This is just one area. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister please give a commitment to come and look at this project?

The second thing I mentioned was unoccupied council houses. There are 30 such houses in Dundalk. Louth County Council should be run as a business. If I had a business, I would have a thing called a float, which covers normal day-to-day running costs. I ask the Taoiseach to give Louth County Council a float of €100,000 so that, as unoccupied council houses come up, they can be dealt with straight away rather than waiting five, six, seven or eight months. These houses are being handed back to the council in perfect condition. If they are left lying idle for that length of time, they will get damp and everything else. Let us allow local authorities to operate as businesses do.

I do not know what is holding back development on the particular site the Deputy is talking about. If it is shovel-ready, has planning permission and so on, it should go ahead. I ask the Deputy to give the details of those voids to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. We want to address voids as quickly as possible. There is no limit on funding for councils to get voids back into use. There is no limit in that regard.

There is.

There is.

There is a problem.

We have made it very clear that we want the councils to move very quickly on voids and to get them back into use as quickly as possible. Some 7,000 have been brought back into use since this Government was formed. We will retain a relentless focus on that aspect of housing because the Deputy is correct; if a house is idle because someone has left it for any reason, the local authority should move quickly to get somebody else in there.