I join colleagues in welcoming the publication of this landmark report into familicide. I commend Ms Maura Butler and her colleagues on it. I express my sympathy and that of my Labour colleagues to all those families affected by this dreadful phenomenon.

An féidir leis an Aire a admháil gur botún a bhí ann? Can he admit that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage made a mistake in failing to extend the temporary no-fault eviction ban? Can the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform admit that lifting the ban without evidence for doing so was in fact misguided and that the risk taken in doing so without evidence and without providing a safety net for renters has not paid off, the result being that we are now seeing the realisation of the worst-case scenario?

Earlier we debated homeownership and how to achieve home security for families and households; however, by lifting the eviction ban the Government signalled to renters that they were on their own when it comes to housing security. There was no safety net or contingency plan for the thousands of renters who now risk entering homelessness through no fault of their own. They are in a real rental nightmare. I am thinking of families like those in my own constituency – parents who are facing eviction and desperately seeking a new home but who cannot tell their children they will very soon be losing their homes until they get through the State examinations.

These families in my constituency are not alone. The latest figures, published by the Residential Tenancies Board just yesterday, record an increase in eviction notices. We now know that between January and March this year, 4,753 notices to quit were issued. The vast majority of these pertained to no-fault evictions. Families and individuals are being evicted in their droves, not because they have failed to pay rent or have engaged in antisocial behaviour but because their homes are commodified for a market that does not care for their welfare. Indeed, it is not the role of the market, nor that of private landlords, to keep people in housing security; it is the role of the State and the Government to provide people with security in their homes. The Government has failed to do this.

In 2021, we in Labour introduced a renters' rights Bill. During the debate on that Bill, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, committed to examining the proposals in it. One was to restrict no-fault evictions. This modest measure is treated or described as extreme in this country. It is not often that we in Labour have cause to commend the Tory Party across the pond, but the Minister may have seen that the British housing secretary, Mr. Michael Gove, recently unveiled legislation to end no-fault evictions there, namely the Tories' Renters (Reform) Bill. As even the Tories know, it is not radical to suggest that families should not lose their homes through no fault of their own. If the Tories can take the risk, the Irish Government should be similarly brave. Will it adopt our renters' rights Bill or at least match the ambition of the British Conservative Party and adopt policies to end no-fault evictions? Does the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform accept that successive homelessness and eviction data published since the end of March have shown that the Government was wrong to lift the ban? Will he accept our call to at least reinstate a temporary ban until homelessness rates reduce for four consecutive months?

I thank the Deputy for again raising what everybody in this House knows is such an important matter. I said previously that the decision to end the eviction moratorium was one of the most difficult and complex I have ever been involved in as a member of the Cabinet, but I am acutely aware and can see in my constituency that whatever difficulty was involved in making the decision was minor by comparison with the difficulty some encounter and are encountering due to the consequences of the decision. I am well aware, before the State exams begin next week, of how deeply sensitive the matter is for parents who are worried about where they and their families will be living later in the year. I am also aware of all those who have been affected by the consequences of the decision during the year. Even at this point, however, it is still important to emphasise the rationale for the introduction of the moratorium and why the Government believes, on balance, that it was right to bring it to an end.

It was brought in during an exceptionally difficult period as we approached Christmas and beyond when the Government knew that further steps needed to be taken to strengthen emergency accommodation and make more housing available across what could have been an even more difficult period for many renters.

It was our view, having considered the issue, that the moratorium's extension would have had two consequences. First, it would have led to even fewer people deciding to become landlords in our society in the years ahead. Second, ending the moratorium at a different time would have created the risk of even more renters, including families, being affected by the loss of rental accommodation. It is for these reasons, on balance, that we believed it was the right, but we accept difficult, decision to make.

I join the Deputy in saying that it is not the role of the private sector solely to provide rental accommodation. That is why we have made funding available to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and our local authorities to provide additional housing. The figures need to be emphasised: the Government is committed to delivering 11,800 social housing units this year; resources have been committed to putting in place more leased units; and steps are being taken to support approved housing bodies in providing more accommodation. The new accommodation that is being opened by Dublin City Council on Dominick Street in my constituency and the new accommodation that is being provided near Collins Barracks by approved housing bodies show that the Government is doing anything but leaving the provision of rental and social accommodation to the private market. It is a case of an active State meeting the needs of those who require support while knowing we always need to do more.

I thank the Minister for his response, but the figures he has provided are cold comfort to the more than 4,700 people who received notices to quit between January and March. The State exams are beginning next week and we all wish those sitting their junior and leaving certificate exams the best, but it is a particularly difficult time for the parents of children who are sitting those exams who are among the more than 4,700 people who have received notices to quit and, therefore, lack housing security. Last Friday's homelessness data showed that more than 12,000 people, including more than 3,500 children, are in homelessness. We know these official figures mask the number of hidden homeless, for example, those couch surfing or bunking in with relatives. It is simply not good enough for families and their children who are sitting State exams that we have this level of housing insecurity as a direct result of a Government decision to lift a no-fault eviction ban that was providing much-needed housing security to thousands of renters. I appeal to the Minister to adopt Labour's Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill 2021.

Respectfully, the maintenance of the moratorium on evictions in the rental sector ran the great risk over time of leading to even fewer rental properties being available.

That is British Tory Party thinking.

Prolonging the eviction ban also ran the risk of even greater difficulty arising when it ended. That is the reason the Government made what we accept was a difficult decision, one that has been the subject of much explanation in the House and debate elsewhere.

I wish to challenge Deputy Bacik on one point. She stated that our provision of 11,800 social homes, which is our ambition for this year after delivering against our social housing targets last year, was cold comfort to those who might not be able to access that accommodation. I accept that is the case. I accept that there are more people who need support, which is why the Government is putting funding into providing that support but for those who are accessing these new homes and have the opportunity to live in them, their provision is anything but cold comfort. I have seen that at first-hand, with families moving into accommodation that has been funded either directly via the State through Dublin City Council or through approved housing bodies. This is why we are so committed to building more social and affordable housing this year, which we will do to provide more homes to those who need the support that we want to deliver.

It is a drop in the ocean.