The report published this morning by the Banking and Payment Federation of Ireland, BPFI, confirms what we already know, which is that the housing policy of the Government is failing abysmally. The BPFI analysis is stark. Since 2010, rents in Ireland have soared by a whopping 82% compared with an EU average of 18% for the same period. This rip-off of Ireland's renters has happened on the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Crazy rents are robbing tenants of any hope of getting a deposit together to buy their own homes and is trapping them in an extortionate nightmare.

Today’s report also highlights that housing supply is nowhere near keeping up with population growth. It states our population is growing at three times the rate of housing supply. Since 2011, the State's population has grown by 500,000 but only 130,000 housing units were added in this time. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been getting it wrong for more than a decade and they are still getting it wrong now. Serious concerns are also raised regarding the decline in housing commencements throughout the State. In the middle of a housing emergency, the rate of housing construction is falling. Things are bad now but unless the Government brings the urgency and ambition required, things will get a whole lot worse.

We have repeatedly told the Government that its targets for social and affordable housing are far too low. Its targets are a drop in the ocean and it is not even meeting them. It is not just Sinn Féin saying this; it is housing organisations on the front line of this emergency and officials in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage who recently stated that the Government has seriously underestimated its housing targets.

Sadly, many of our young people now look to a life beyond Ireland. The Central Statistics Office tells us nearly half of renters are considering emigrating because of the crippling cost of living. Many mothers and fathers will spend this Christmas watching their sons and daughters pack their bags for Australia and Canada. Is it any wonder when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain wedded to policies that put cuckoo funds and wealthy investors above young people's need to get a decent start? This is so wrong. We need our young people here at home. We need their talent, energy and ideas. What else can we expect of them when they cannot put a roof over their heads in Ireland?

What other option do they really have, when the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, says that we do not have a housing emergency? Deimhníonn tuarascáil an BPFI dáiríreacht na héigeandála tithíochta. Is féidir le hAirí oifigí a mhalartú mas mian leo. Chun difríocht a dhéanamh i ndáiríre, tá athrú polasaithe tithíochta fiúntach ag teastáil go práinneach.

Today’s report lays it out plainly. It turns out that, despite the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, lecturing our young people, in fact the grass is greener elsewhere, especially for renters. There has been an 82% rent hike in Ireland versus an average of 18% across the EU. That is some punch in the gut for renters. It is a rip-off on a massive scale and yet the Government does nothing about it. Does the Minister now accept that it is time for the Government to intervene decisively, to put a month’s rent back into renters’ pockets through a refundable tax credit and finally to ban rent increases for three years?

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising the BPFI report today, which confirms that we face an enormous challenge in relation to housing. The Government has been upfront and honest about the scale of that challenge. That is why we brought forward the Housing for All plan, which is showing significant signs of progress in relation to supply overall, which will reach the highest level for a long number of years. Close to 28,000 homes were built in the 12 months to the end of September. Nearly 21,000 homes were built in the first nine months of the year, which is more than the entirety of the previous year. As the Deputy knows, this year, overall under the Housing for All plan, the target is 24,600 units. We now expect that we will achieve over 26,000 units this year, which will be the highest level of output since 2008. There were more than 16,000 first-time buyers in the last 12 months, which is the highest number since 2007 and represents a third of all home purchases. Construction on over 26,600 homes commenced in the year to October.

While acknowledging the scale of the challenge we face, it is also only fair and proper that we acknowledge the fact that housing output is increasing significantly. There are headwinds in the private sector. We have been honest about that when it comes to labour shortages, which we are seeking to address through our apprenticeship system and through the employment permit system. There are challenges in relation to construction materials inflation, which we are again seeking to address through the inflation co-operation framework that is in place. There are challenges in relation to our planning system and a new comprehensive planning Bill will be brought into this House shortly. I hope it will meet with support across this House.

Many renters aspire to own their own home at some point in time. While not all of them do, many of them do. For those who do, we have introduced a whole range of new initiatives, including the first home scheme, FHS, shared equity scheme. Almost 1,000 applications have now been received and 200 contracts have now been executed. We have extended the help to buy scheme, which has helped 35,000 first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. We are targeting 5,000 new affordable homes through the Land Development Agency, LDA, by 2026. As the Deputy will know, they are engaging with the market in relation to Project Tosaigh and in particular in relation to sites where planning permission is in place but where there are viability challenges at this point in time. We have also empowered local authorities to invest through land purchase in order to bring forward affordable purchase schemes and they are doing that. Do we need more? Of course, we need more. The Government is providing a record amount of resources. For once in our nation's history, funding is not really the constraint. We need the public system to deliver and we need to partner with the private sector to make sure that it maximises output. The Deputy has raised particular issues around renters and we acknowledge that this is the case for new rental agreements. This is what the data represents because existing tenants have protections under the rent pressure zone, RPZ, system where the rent increase is capped at 2%.

Those renters should also know what Sinn Féin is planning. Sinn Féin is planning a new tax of €400 on rental properties. It is planning to increase income tax on landlords, many of whom have incomes of over €100,000. It wants to increase income tax on them. For landlords with multiple properties and who may incur significant capital gains tax, Sinn Féin wants to increase capital gains tax.

At a time we need to increase the supply of rental accommodation, through what the State is doing directly but also by retaining existing investment in the market and attracting new investment, Sinn Féin's policies would further drive landlords out of the market. The Deputy needs to be honest about that.

Let me tell the Minister this: the Government's policies are driving an entire generation of our young people to Perth, Sydney, Toronto and beyond.

Not true.

Not true.

That is what the Government is at. I will tell the Minister what our policies will do: our approach will move heaven and earth to keep those young people at home or, if they have gone away, to give them an opportunity to come back. The Minister describes this as a significant challenge. Let us get the language right. This is an emergency and a disaster for families in their real, lived lives and the Government has dragged its feet-----

Not true.

It comes in here week after week to tell fairy tales and make-believe, imagining its approach is working, when it is plainly failing. I drew the Minister's attention to the distinction between an 82% growth in rents as against 18%, which is the EU average and I asked how the Government would respond to that

Some 3,000 properties.

I have given the Minister two ideas: one is a refundable tax credit for renters to put a month's rent back in their pockets and reduce rents; and a complete and effective ban on rent increases. Will the Minister deal with those two issues?

As the Deputy well knows, we have brought in emergency measures in the context of this winter, which have been approved by this House and are really needed. The reason we have such a level of growth in new rental prices is the mismatch between supply and demand. That is why the Government's core focus is on increasing supply of all kinds of housing, that is, affordable purchase, cost-rental and public housing on a scale the like of which we have not seen for a very long time in this country. The Government is also working with the private sector to alleviate some of the blockages that are there preventing supply-----

Completions are down.

------getting to the level we need it to get to. This is the only side of the House that has a fully-funded multi-annual plan for housing and we are delivering the increase in the units.

It is not working.

The Minister does not even believe that.

All of the renters who aspire to home ownership look to help to buy, the first home scheme and the LDA, all of which Sinn Féin has opposed. The Deputy's answer with regard to rental is to increase tax with a new tax on rental properties, increased tax for landlords and an income tax on capital gains. That is the Deputy's answer to attracting new investment to Ireland and that will not work.

The Minister does not even believe it.