At the risk of another Elvis moment, I wish the Taoiseach well in our last engagement on Leaders' Questions. I wish him well in whatever his future role may be.

The Taoiseach may wish to indicate at this point in what role he will be returning to the Dáil in the new year. Suspicious minds - see what I did there? - are suggesting that it will be in a new role as Minister for Foreign Affairs but the Taoiseach may wish to confirm or deny that on the floor of the Chamber. Elvis has left the building now.

On a serious note, the Taoiseach has been assuring us that his Ministers have been wide awake and not asleep at the wheel. It certainly appears that the officials of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, have been having some sleepless nights rushing through the drafting of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill 2022, which will be rushed through this House through all Stages this week. On 1 December, the Labour Party wrote to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, expressing our concern at the rushed-through nature of this planning law. The Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill is, as we said through our colleague, Senator Moynihan, the latest in a long line of housing, residential and planning Bills that have been sought to be passed into law at the last minute before either a summer or a Christmas recess. While we completely support measures which might see the acceleration of delivery of housing, our concern is that this Bill will not see the delivery of homes, which is so badly needed, and will not deliver the much-needed planning reforms. More importantly, it will not expedite the actual delivery of housing.

Last week I raised the fact that there are 28,000 live planning permissions in the Dublin City Council area alone which have not been activated, which had gone through the planning process, but where we are seeing a delay in delivery. These undeveloped sites are fuelling high rates of homelessness, escalating rents and lengthening housing lists, with more than 11,000 people now on the housing list. We also see the sort of substandard living conditions I have spoken about in my own constituency, where 27 tenants were recently evicted and were living in what was essentially a firetrap of a building.

Will the Taoiseach, the Government and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, take account of the warnings from its own agency, the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, that there has been hoarding and speculative behaviour in which developers and investors are acquiring planning permissions to hold as an asset and engaging in what we have seen described as land banking or land hoarding? This is a key issue and obstacle to the actual delivery of homes across cities and towns across this country. We have seen this concern raised not only by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service but also by the ESRI in a report stating that State intervention is now needed to end land speculation and land hoarding and to see a speeded-up delivery of housing.

In particular, we in the Labour Party introduced a Bill to enact the Kenny report, a report which if enacted - this report will be 50 years old next year - would have done a great deal to ensure an end to land hoarding. Will the Taoiseach speed up and see to the passage of our Kenny report Bill?

I thank the Deputy for her very kind comments in advance. I have good news for the Deputy in that today, at Government, we approved legislation relating to land value sharing, which deals fundamentally with the issue of excessive profits being made following the zoning of land. Given the level of public infrastructure and investment that takes place in the State on any land that is zoned for housing, a portion of that value must accrue to the State. This is very radical legislation and is Kenny-like in respect of the Kenny report of many decades ago. This legislation will be introduced and there is also a zoned land tax, which will be a further feature to deal with hoarding in respect of planning permissions.

If the Deputy combines all of the measures that have been taken, a fairly radical approach is being taken now, both legislatively and policy-wise in respect of the utilisation of land, preventing land speculation and endeavouring over the medium term to get land pricing down, so as to get house prices down.

In parallel with that, we have an unprecedented investment in housing to the tune of €4 billion per annum. The legislation to which the Deputy has referred, which is minor but essential legislation in respect of interim measures for An Bord Pleanála, also has measures to deal with exempting from Part 8 the building of social and affordable homes on publicly owned local authority land to accelerate the planning process. I have heard for quite some months people in this House say that the housing crisis is an emergency and that we need to act urgently. The Minister's amendment is designed to enable us to move quickly, particularly with rapid-build housing on local authority land for social housing.

I do not see why anyone in the House could object to that, given that we need to increase the number of houses we build and build them more rapidly. That is the agenda. The Bill relates to the appointment of an interim chairperson of An Bord Pleanála, which is very important, given what has happened in it.

Across the board, there is now a range of schemes to deal with the housing crisis, including the Croí Cónaithe towns and cities scheme, the help-to-buy scheme and the first homes scheme. This year, there were 16,000 first-time buyers, the highest number since 2008. About 18,000 social homes have been built since 2020, the highest figure in a long time. This year we aim to get to 10,000 social houses, with 8,000 built, which is the highest number in many decades. We are building momentum but we have to go faster and do more. The objective of the legislation is to give us the capacity to go faster and get more houses built more quickly in order that young people who are looking for housing can get it at an affordable level.

We will support any measures that will see the delivery of housing. However, the difficulty for many people is that they are not seeing that outcome. They are hearing the Government listing off plans in progress, preparation being made or issues that will deliver on momentum, but they are not actually seeing the delivery of affordable homes for themselves or their children, friends and families.

This is now eating into many different areas of life. As we know, it is affecting the ability of schools to attract teachers and the ability of hospitals to attract nurses and doctors. It is affecting every small business across the country in its ability to attract staff. We are seeing a failure of Government to deliver on outcomes. That is the key issue in housing. When we put forward constructive measures like the Kenny report Bill a year ago and our renters' rights Bill in October 2021, they are the sorts of measures we are putting forward as constructive ways to achieve the delivery of affordable homes. We ask the Government to take them on board and go with them in order to deliver on those outcomes.

I do not disagree with the need to pursue as wide a range of issues and initiatives as we can. This year, we will exceed our targets in Housing for All. There will be more than 26,000 home completions, the highest number of houses built in any one year since 2008. Measures in Housing for All are having an impact. It is not just about announcing strategies and plans; they are having an impact.

The issue is that we need to build more than 30,000 houses per annum. Prior to 2020, we were at about 20,000. The need to pick up and increase capacity has been there. The good news is that there are now 40,000 more people working in the housing construction sector this year than last, and 20,000 over the 2019 level. The pipeline of apprentices in the construction industry is strong, thanks to the good work of the Minister, Deputy Harris, in terms of the increased numbers coming through to work in construction trades. That is something we need to continue. We are building capacity at all levels for the long haul. We have to build 35,000 houses or more every year as we go through the decade. We have to build up to that.