On behalf of everyone here, I congratulate Deputy Cairns on her elevation. I do not know whether it is in order this morning to describe her as the new leader of the Social Democrats.

This is her first Leaders' Questions in that capacity.

Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle. I am a member of the first ever generation who will be worse off than our parents. This did not happen by accident. Political choices made by successive Governments have resulted in the aspirations and dreams of an entire generation being either diminished or destroyed.

Nowhere is the political betrayal of young people more evident than in the housing disaster. Skyrocketing rents and exorbitant house prices have resulted in the collapse of homeownership rates. We are now at the bottom one third of EU countries when it comes to homeownership. The Taoiseach told a recent meeting of his parliamentary party that he was alarmed to see that figure, but was he surprised? All this happened on Fine Gael's watch.

The share of 25 to 34-year-olds who own their own homes more than halved between 2004 and 2019, plummeting from 60% to just 27%. People can no longer afford to buy a home because they are spending all their money on rent. Between 2012 and early last year, rents increased by a staggering 95%, while prices in the economy increased by just 11%. Rents are still increasing; there appears to be no upper limit. The housing disaster is not just about bricks and mortar. It is about young people whose adult lives are on hold because they cannot afford to move out of their childhood bedrooms. It is about couples postponing having a family because they cannot find affordable housing. It is about the stress and anxiety that cause once happy relationships to break down. It is about a lack of hope. It is about despair and fear for the future that your life will be permanently on hold, that you could be served an eviction notice at any moment and that you will never be able to afford to do what your own parents did on just one income - own a modest home.

We know the housing disaster is a social catastrophe and it is now threatening our economy too. Today, Chambers Ireland warned that the housing disaster is the biggest threat facing small and medium businesses. It said that multinationals are considering buying up entire housing estates. An economy cannot function when workers cannot afford to buy or rent a home, and neither can a society.

Fine Gael has been in government for almost my entire adult life. The Taoiseach's party first promised to address what was a housing crisis in 2014. Nine years later, it is an unprecedented housing disaster. Promises have been broken, targets have not been met and lives are being ruined as a result.

The Deputy's time is up.

Can the Taoiseach please tell me when people on average incomes will be able to afford to buy or rent a home? How much longer do we have to wait for the Government's plan to work?

At the outset, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Deputy Cairns on her election as leader of the Social Democrats. As one leader to another, it is an enormous honour to be chosen by one's party to lead them. It is a tough job and much of the work goes unrecognised whether it is fundraising, dealing with party accounts, disputes between public representatives, internal rows or staff matters. It is all before her. It is a very tough job-----

The Taoiseach should speak for himself.

That is only in Fine Gael.

It sounds like a counselling session.

The Taoiseach has so much money he cannot handle it.

-----and a very big job.

There are plenty of people behind the Taoiseach who would take the job.

I honestly wish her a fair wind in that regard.

I also want to take the opportunity to recognise the former leaders, Deputies Shortall and Catherine Murphy. We have not always seen eye to eye. I have seen many attempts to establish new parties in my time in politics, however, and very few survive eight years. Very few have six Teachtaí Dála after eight years. It is a success that they have brought the party to this point. I do not think any party since the Progressive Democrats has managed to reach that level of success. Of course, most new parties do not survive their second leader but, hopefully, that will not be the case for the Social Democrats.

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I am deeply concerned about the fall in homeownership in Ireland. This is a country in which nearly 70% of people own their own home. I want that to be the reality for people who are now in their 20s and 30s. That is why I am determined that this is the year in which we should turn the corner on the housing crisis.

The Deputy said she believes hers will be the first generation of young people in a long time who are worse off than their parents. I have not thrown in the towel on that. That will only be the case if we do not turn the tide on the housing crisis and homeownership, which I believe we will.

When it comes to other things that young people experience, we are doing much better. There are more employment opportunities than ever before for young people. Youth unemployment is at an all-time low. Incomes have never been higher. More young people experience further and higher education than ever was the case in the past. Of course, the personal freedoms young people have today, particularly people from LGBT backgrounds and women, are way beyond what would have been imaginable for previous generations. But the area in which we are letting young people down is on housing, and I acknowledge that. That is why we are doing so much work to turn it around, particularly when it comes to homeownership.

I am encouraged by the fact that last year, 16,000 young people and young couples bought their first home. That is the highest figure in 15 years. We need to build on that and we will do so, mainly by driving increased supply of new housing, which is crucially important, and continuing to have in place the help to buy scheme, which has already helped more than 30,000 people, mostly young people, to buy their first homes. The shared equity schemes like the first home scheme will now help many people too.

I thank the Taoiseach for his warm wishes; I appreciate that.

He reeled off a number of statistics and issues with regard to employment and education, which are key. Without somewhere to live, however, it is difficult to get through any kind of employment or education. The most important statistics for people out there are that rents and house prices have never been higher and homelessness has never been higher. The Taoiseach said he is doing everything to try to turn that around.

In a recent report, however, the National Economic and Social Council said the fastest way to increase the supply of housing is to bring in a vacant and derelict properties tax. The Social Democrats have suggested a punitive 10% tax on vacant homes. Inexplicably, the Government waited until this year to introduce a tax on vacant homes and then set it at a derisory 0.3% of the value of a home. If the Taoiseach is doing everything to turn it around now, will he increase the rate so that it actually acts as a deterrent?

In Denmark, if a property owner moves out of his or her home, he or she has to approach his or her local authority within six weeks so it can be rented out or else that person has to try to sell it. That recommendation was made in 2020. Why has the Taoiseach not acted on that either?

We have a derelict sites levy. That applies to derelict houses and has been in place for a very long time.

At 0.3%.

No, this a different one that was in place even when I was on the county council. That has been around for 20 or 30 years. It is a levy on derelict properties and sites and increases every year. Councils are a bit slow putting properties on it, quite frankly-----

That is an understatement.

-----but it does exist. We are bringing in a vacant property tax as well, initially at that rate. However, I have an open mind on whether we increase that rate into the future. As the Deputy will know from the same report she quoted earlier, levels of dereliction and vacancy in Ireland are actually falling. The levels of vacancy in areas where housing need is greatest, such as Dublin and Cork and so on, are actually quite low.

What about all the Airbnbs?

When we look at the exact same report, we will see that when houses are vacant, they are often vacant for a reason. They are for sale, to let, under renovation or the person who lived there has just died. That is all in the same report the Deputy quoted. It is worth pointing that out. Another thing we are doing, which is really important, is providing grants now to young people and older people to do up old buildings-----

That figure is 600.

-----to make them into homes. That is going really well. I am really encouraged with what can be achieved around that. As well as that, we are going to provide a fund to local authorities so they can apply a compulsory purchase order, CPO, to vacant and derelict properties and bring them into use. That can help too.