As Deputy Micheál Martin prepares to leave the office of Taoiseach, it is an appropriate time to reflect on his tenure in office. He has repeatedly said he considers housing the most important social issue in the country but his record tells a different story. It is not a record of problem solving; it is a record of problems multiplying.

The crisis has now morphed into a disaster. The facts speak for themselves. House prices, rents and the rate of homelessness have never been higher. On Friday, we learned that there are now a record 11,397 people, including 3,480 children, living in emergency accommodation. The housing emergency is not always just about bricks and mortar. The price of the disaster is being paid by these thousands of children, many of whom are not meeting milestones, who are losing their childhoods as they grow up in emergency accommodation. Homelessness has almost become normalised. The price is also being paid by the relationships breaking down because of the stress of housing insecurity, by the couples postponing having a family and by the disconnected communities resulting from people being unable to put down roots.

When is this going to end or, at the very least, when are we going to see some tangible improvements? The thousands of people who took to the streets for the Raise the Roof rally on Saturday do not see any evidence that the Taoiseach's Government is treating this crisis as an emergency. I met teachers at the protest who can no longer afford to live in Dublin or other cities and who have no option but to leave the profession or leave the country. It is the same story for workers in other sectors. Our very significant skills shortage is partly a result of this. Who can afford to spend an astronomical €28,000 per annum in rent to live in Dublin or in excess of €20,000 to live in other parts of the country? Pretty soon, the only people who will be able to afford rent in this country will be bankers, who are to see their gold-plated €20,000 bonuses restored with the decision made by Government today.

The Taoiseach is delivering for the bankers but what about the workers in sectors that did not have any hand, act or part in collapsing the housing sector? All they hear from the Taoiseach is broken promises. He says housing is his top priority and yet 11 local authorities failed to deliver a single new-build home in the first half of 2022. Not a single such home was constructed in six months in vast swathes of the country during the biggest housing crisis in a generation. This 11 includes three local authorities in Dublin, where the crisis is at its most acute. Meanwhile, nearly €500 million of the Government's housing budget for the first nine months of this year was not spent. It should be no surprise then that the Government will miss its modest target to build 4,100 affordable and cost rental homes this year. Talk is cheap and the Taoiseach's commitments on housing now lie in tatters. Does he accept that his tenure has been a failure when it comes to housing?

No, I do not. Some very fundamental decisions have been taken that have changed the momentum in respect of housing for the next decade. We are already on track to exceed this year's target of 24,600 under Housing for All. We need to consider that we had two significant lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, which dominated the first year and a half to two years of this Government. Despite the inflationary cycle, the war in Ukraine and the exponential increase in the cost of building materials as we came out of the pandemic, we have continued with new schemes and new approaches and with record legislation in the field of housing. Seventeen Acts in this area have been enacted since this Government came into office. This includes major legislation such as the Land Development Agency Act 2021, which is going to be there for the long term. We have already seen the work of this agency in Shanganagh. Some in the Opposition voted against that but, as of last week, there are now 600 units under way because of the Land Development Agency and the Act establishing it.

The Affordable Housing Act established the affordable housing purchase scheme. The sixth Residential Tenancies Act enhances tenant protections, including the introduction of a 2% rent cap, extended rent pressure zones, RPZs, until the end of 2024, restricted deposits in the context of what landlords can do with deposits, extended notice to quit periods, the winter eviction ban, and a whole range of legislative elements. The help to buy scheme is now a maximum payment of €30,000. This scheme has helped thousands of ordinary people to buy their first home. This year we have had a record 16,000 first-time buyers in the past 12 months. That is the highest number since 2007, which represents 33% of all home purchases, up from 25% in 2015. With social housing, again we are looking at a record this year in the number of social houses that will be brought in through build, lease and acquisition.

About 18,500 social houses have been provided since this Government came into office. This is very significant ramping up of activity on the social housing front. We can also add in 5,000 units in voids that we brought back in. We are producing additional housing. The issue for us is that we need to produce more and we need to produce housing more rapidly. This means more rapid build. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is focusing on that aspect of it now, particularly on public lands, so we can get more rapid-build social housing into play. We are also increasing the supports for homeownership. On top of the help to buy scheme we have the first home scheme, which is at about 700 approvals already. Project Tosaigh, from the Land Development Agency, is also targeting some 5,000 units with existing planning permissions on the private side, which it is hoping to bring into operation to create affordable housing for people. There is a lot of activity there. It is about supply and is about trying to get delivery faster.

The Taoiseach said nothing about the 11,397 people who are in homeless and emergency accommodation, including almost 3,500 children who will spend this Christmas in homeless accommodation. It has almost become permanent. It has become normalised. We get these figures on a Friday towards the end of each month and each time they are going up. We have seen a reduction in commencements in the past three months, with no local authority new builds in the first six months of this year in 11 local authorities. It does not suggest an emergency. The facts are we have the highest rents and the cost of buying a house has never been higher. We have lots of targets, but people cannot live in targets and they cannot rent targets. They need to see that, in this crisis, the Government is delivering as if it were an emergency and where we are actually seeing the results on the ground. People are losing hope. We could certainly see this on Saturday when talking to people at the demonstration.

Again, the Deputies opposite keep talking about the word "emergency", but why did they oppose the Land Development Agency Act? Why did they oppose the Affordable Housing Act? Is it really an emergency when Deputies indulge in the luxury of opposing legislation that provides additional supply on public land? That is the problem. I feel that people-----

The Taoiseach knows that is not-----

That is the truth.

People articulate a lot of rhetoric in the House about "emergency" and "urgency" and so on.

It would be nice if the Taoiseach answered the question.

I suggest this rhetoric sometimes is not matched. The homeless issue is a very serious issue.

It is a disaster.

We need more supply to deal with that. That is why we have ramped up social housing supply very significantly - to deal with the issue of homelessness and the waiting lists for people who are trying to get social housing. This is why we have ramped it up, and it is up significantly. Consider the numbers of workers who are working in construction. There are 40,000 more people working in construction this year than last year, which is 20,000 more than in 2019. This also shows that we are doing everything we possibly can to ramp up capacity within the construction sector in order that we can build more homes. Ultimately, it is about supply. We also have the winter eviction ban to try to reduce homelessness during the winter period.

It is higher rents but lower standards.