Táim ag díriú isteach ar chathair na Gaillimhe agus ar Chontae na Gaillimhe agus an ghéarchéim thithíochta atá ann, in ainneoin gur bunaíodh tascfhórsa in 2019. In ainneoin sin, níl aon tuarascáil chríochnúil againn fós ó thaobh anailíse de agus tá an ghéarchéim thithíochta ag éirí i bhfad níos measa. I ndáiríre, cuireann sé an spotsolas ar pholasaí an Rialtais. Tá teipthe aige go huile agus go hiomlán ó thaobh tithíocht a sholáthar.

I am going back to Galway city and county in respect of the housing crisis. It is a microcosm of what is happening in the country and brings into acute focus the utter failure of housing policy year after year and Government after Government. In 2019, a task force was set up in Galway city and county, prior to Covid and the war in Ukraine, because there was a crisis. Galway City Council and the county had utterly failed to build one single public house from 2009 onwards in Galway city. That was directly related to Government policy. I say this in the context of our former city manager telling us in February of this year, five years after the task force, that Galway City Council will not be able to meet its social housing needs. I say this in light of the European Commission telling us the shortage of social housing has created long waiting lists, resulted in over-reliance in short-term supplement solutions and contributed to a steep increase in homelessness.

We have 12,691 people homeless. That is a 752.41% increase since 2012. Some 279 of them are in Galway city and county. I raise this because, foolishly, I put a little faith in the task force that was set up. It has, however, simply become another layer of the establishment and another layer of administration that has proceeded for five years to get more and more presentations. Today, I got the report for 2022, last year, ten months later. It proceeds to tell me that Galway city built very few houses, but even the ones that were built are at odds with the figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I will go by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which tells us that at the end of 2022, we had built 26 houses in total by direct build in Galway city. In the county, we had built, in total, 150.

Other figures are given in the report from the task force, which again brings into acute focus the messing around and complete obfuscation in relation to figures. When we talk about the provision of social housing, we include just about everything under that umbrella, from long-term leasing to other arrangements. What I am asking the Taoiseach is to take a hands-on approach in relation to Galway city and county where the housing crisis is worse than in Dublin. We have pockets of land with no overall master plan. All of the segments - Ceannt Station, the docks, Dyke Road and Sandy Road - are all working separately and without a plan for the common good.

I am afraid I do not have those figures available to me at the moment, so it is impossible for me to comment on them. I know Deputy Connolly has raised the housing task force for Galway city and county before. When we calculate how much social housing is being provided, we need to recognise that there are many different ways in which social housing can be built and provided. I do not mean the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS; I mean social housing where somebody has a long-term tenancy and the security of a roof over their head. Sometimes it is houses and apartments built directly by local authorities. At other times it is through approved housing bodies. That is particularly the case in my constituency. Sometimes they are purchased on the market. Sometimes they are leased long term. Increasingly now, they are being constructed by the Land Development Agency. As somebody who has had the privilege of attending the opening of many of these developments and seeing people getting their keys and moving into these homes, they are not particularly concerned about what mechanism is used. What they want to know is that they are getting a house with a long-term lease that gives them security and a roof over their head. We should always bear that in mind.

Today, the Cabinet approved the publication of the new planning and development Bill, one which I recommend to the House. We believe that will help a lot. A huge number of housing developments get held up in the planning system and then in the courts. This comprehensive reform of our planning legislation will mean more developments getting through planning quicker, whether it is social housing or private housing, and that can help to alleviate the housing crisis.

When it comes to social housing in the round, last year more social housing was provided than in any year since the 1970s and we anticipate an even higher figure again this year. We will not know that figure until some time next year, but we anticipate an even higher figure again this year, which is welcome.

Again, there are some very encouraging signs on home ownership. About 700 individuals and couples are getting mortgage approval for their first home every week. That is the highest we have seen since the Celtic tiger period. Some 400 or 500 individuals and couples are purchasing their first home every week. I wish we had seen that sooner but it is really good to see it happening now.

I remind myself daily of the salary I am earning and the privilege it is to stand here but it is increasingly difficult to listen to the narrative from the Taoiseach and the Government. Could they please let language mean something? I return to that theme over and over. There is no difficulty with these figures. This is the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage telling us that 26 houses were directly built by the city council in one year, and I gave the other figure for the county council. There are no HAP properties available in Galway city. That was the only game in town in my time as a councillor, and it remains so. There is not one single house available within the HAP rates or the discretionary rates.

There is a capacity problem at county and city council level because successive Governments have failed to resource them. They have no capacity. I have quoted the former city manager, who told the Government he will not meet the targets. Let us stop the doublespeak and gobbledygook about housing and realise that the Government must, through the local authorities, build public housing on public land. Let us look at Galway city as an example of what can be done with a master plan for the common good. On the docklands there are acres. Does the Taoiseach know what we are going to do there? We are going to build premium housing, not public housing because that is not good for the docklands area. That is not good for the ethos of the Government.

I thank the Deputy. What we are doing, and what the Deputy has recommended that we do, we are doing all over the country, namely, building public housing on public land. We are building public housing on private land and buying private housing to use as public housing. We are doing all of those things. Look at the census figures for the past ten years. The percentage of people who live in and benefit from social housing has gone up, not down. About 40,000 more families live in social housing now than was the case ten years ago. Last year was a record year in terms of the provision of new social housing. We are determined to make sure that this year is the same again.