Níl dabht ar bith ann ach go bhfuil an ghéarchéim tithíochta ag dul in olcas lá i ndiaidh lae. Tá níos mó daoine óga anois ag maireachtáil sa bhaile lena dtuismitheoirí nó ag dul ar imirce thar sáile. Tá teip iomlán ar phlean tithíochta an Rialtais. Ní thabharfaidh ach athrú Rialtais dóchas do dhaoine go dtiocfaidh deireadh leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta.

The housing crisis is worsening every day that this Government is in office. More and more young people now are being forced to live at home with their parents well into their 30s or take the choice to emigrate. More and more working people, as they get closer to retirement, are being locked into an insecure and overpriced rental market and they are fearful for their future.

We were contacted by one person who has a good job at a Dublin hospital. She is in her 30s and on a good salary, but she cannot find a single place to live that is somewhat even reasonable. Most of the apartments in the area are nearly €2,000 per month and that does not include the bills. This person tells us that she feels completely hopeless. She says the situation she and so many of her generation face has been created by successive Governments allowing the few to profit off her generation and lock them out of any sense of stability, and I completely agree with her. This Government is failing to deliver the genuine affordable homes working people need.

It is widely acknowledged that the Government's housing targets are far too low and wholly inadequate to meet the need of the actual demand of housing right across this State. Yet despite all of this, the Government refused to increase housing investment above these inadequate targets in the recent budget. Each year, the Government has failed to even reach those targets.

The Tánaiste keeps telling us that the Government has the most comprehensive housing plan in the history of the State and that it is spending more and more money on social and affordable homes than ever before yet when we look deep into the facts, the reality is very different. This year, €4 billion was to be spent to deliver 14,500 social and genuinely affordable homes. However, today we learned that at the end of September, less than half less of this allocation has been spent. So, what does this mean? It means that thousands of affordable homes for working people promised by this Government will not be delivered this year, just like last year, the year before and the year before that. In fact, figures from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage show just how badly this Government is doing. By June of this year, only 15% of the social homes that were promised had been delivered and only 123 out of the 4,400 affordable homes that were promised had been delivered, and not a single affordable home was delivered by the Land Development Agency.

If the Tánaiste wants to figure out why house prices and rents are rising, then this is the reason. This is why house prices and rents are rising. This is why homelessness is rising. This is why people feel hopeless, like that woman who works in a Dublin hospital and cannot find anywhere to live. This is why the Government's plan is failing. The housing targets need to be increased. It needs to start with the delivery of 21,000 social and genuinely affordable homes next year. The expenditure ceilings for housing delivery need to be increased and the red tape needs to be cut to ensure local authorities and approved housing bodies can deliver homes at pace and at scale. The response from the Government needs to meet the scale of the emergency that is right across this State. Will the Tánaiste finally accept that the Government's plan is failing? It is failing the worker in that Dublin hospital and the people who are in Dublin Airport at this minute. It is failing people in emergency accommodation and those who are locked out of homeownership and locked into extortionate rents. Will the Tánaiste finally acknowledge that it is failing and turn course?

Ní aontaím leis an Teachta. Níl aon amhras anois ach go bhfuil i bhfad níos mó tithe á dtógáil ag an Rialtas seo ná mar a rinne éinne eile. Tá plean i bhfad níos cuimsithí againn ná atá ag an Teachta féin. Níl aon phlean aige. Cé go mbíonn sé ag béiceach i gcónaí, níl mórán taobh thiar de. Níl aon phlean cuimsitheach ag Sinn Féin - faic - agus tá siad i gcoinne scéim i ndiaidh scéime atá ag tabhairt tacaíochta d’aos óg na linne seo.

Cosúil leat féin.

Deputy Doherty is wrong, and no shouting and roaring is going to change the fact that this Government has significantly turned the dial with regard to house construction. More than 30,000 houses were constructed last year, and we will exceed targets again this year. As reported in the newspapers this morning, commencements are up 14% on last year and completions are up 14% on last year. Sinn Féin does not have a comprehensive housing plan. It has nothing but a collection of sound bites and a few pages.

How does the Tánaiste know that? How does he know what we have?

It has not put in the hard work. When it comes to young people in this country, look at Sinn Féin's policies. It does not do anything for first-time buyers. Its policies are anti-first-time buyers. Sinn Féin would get rid of the help-to-buy scheme from which 42,000 young buyers benefitted. Sinn Féin opposed the First Home scheme, which allows 30% State equity in houses for younger people to buy those houses from which 2,500 people benefitted this year. If Sinn Féin had its way, they would not be able to avail of that particular scheme. Sinn Féin opposed the grants we made available in terms of vacant houses or houses that are derelict of €50,000 and €70,000, respectively, as well-----

We have not.

-----and voted against it. To add to that, Sinn Féin opposed the Land Development Agency; it has a long history of opposing. On the ground, it is probably one of the most serial objectors to housing we have witnessed-----

Ah, stop.

-----over the last five years. It is, therefore, about time Sinn Féin came forward with substance and not empty rhetoric and sound bites. The fact of the matter is that the Government does have the most comprehensive housing plan, and I have said that before. I do not see that comprehensive plan in any policy document Sinn Féin has produced in respect of that.

If we look at, for example, social housing, more than 10,000 social homes were delivered last year in 2022, which is the highest level of social housing delivery in decades. This year, we aim to deliver nearly 12,000 social homes, including 9,100 new-build homes. There is a strong pipeline of more than 22,000 social homes either on site or at design and tender stage. In 2024, we have funding in place to deliver more than 11,600 social homes, including 9,300 new builds. Since 2020, 30,000 new social homes have been added to the social housing stock, including 19,000 new builds.

There are now approximately 2,500 tenant in situ purchases progressing at various stages. In respect of cost-rental houses, for example, there has been a dramatic provision and affordability. To be fair to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, he has come forward with a variety of programmes and investments that outrival anything Sinn Féin has produced. Sinn Féin does not have substance in its policies. It has been anti-young-first-time buyer and covered it up. There is camouflage over it. However, if we go through the detail of how Sinn Féin has performed in this House over the last three years when various pieces of housing legislation have come before it, Sinn Féin opposed anything that would help young first-time buyers.

Sinn Féin opposed anything that would help young first-time buyers, and we now have more first-time buyers drawing down mortgages this year and last year than we have had for many a day.

The Government's response to any of the crises that we point out to it is "but, but, but Sinn Féin". That is how the Government sums it up, that we have stopped all of this, that we are at fault for a housing crisis, despite the fact that the Tánaiste's partners in government have been in government for 12 years, and that Fianna Fáil-----

We are not in Government 12 years.

-----has supported the Government for seven years. The Tánaiste's partners in government have been in government for 12 years, and Fianna Fáil has supported the Government for the last seven years. The Tánaiste can have his head as far in the sand as he wants but there are nearly 13,000 people in emergency accommodation. He talks about home ownership. There is an entire generation of people who have lost hope that they will be getting onto the property ladder because of the policies of the Tánaiste's Government that are pushing up house prices. We still see that even in recent Central Statistics Office, CSO figures. That is the reality of it. Why are people deciding to emigrate? They will tell you that they feel they cannot own a home here. Home ownership is reducing under this Government. We have people who are well-paid in the sector who cannot get homes. People who work in our professional services cannot get homes in Dublin under this Government. Rents, homelessness and house prices are up but somehow, it is always Sinn Féin's fault.

The dogs in the street know that the targets the Government has set are far too law. Worse still, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien-----

I thank the Deputy, he is over time.

----- just in case the Tánaiste does not know this, has missed his targets on social and affordable housing every single year for the last four years. That is the reality we have.

Deputy Doherty is wrong.

Am I wrong? Explain to me how I am wrong.

Here he goes again.

Explain it to me. Did the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, meet the targets on social and affordable housing?

If I may say so, a Leas Cheann-Comhairle-----

We cannot hear Deputy Doherty.

Before we start, can we please have a little respect? Deputy Doherty has one minute.

I am interested to hear how the Government met the targets on social and affordable housing. This will be very exciting.

Shouting is not a policy. Shouting and roaring does not deal with the substance of provision. I have always said that housing is the biggest social issue facing this country. That is why Fianna Fáil took up the portfolio at the beginning of this Government. We did not take on an easy task here.

Give it to someone else.

Fianna Fáil has made it worse.

Let the Tánaiste finish.

The important point is we have produced the most comprehensive plan and we are implementing it. Deputy Doherty has not. I will make the point to him that 400 first-time buyers each week are now buying their first home. Listening to the Deputy, one would imagine that nobody was. Some 25,000 first-time buyers drew down mortgages in 2022. That is the highest number since 2008, and over 41,000 homes were purchased between January and August of this year, with 27% of those by first-time buyers. We have developed schemes that are helping first-time buyers, and respectfully-----

Explain to me how I am wrong that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, missed his targets.

----- I put it to Deputy Doherty that his policies and approach in this House have been negative.

Does the Tánaiste want me to whisper it to him? Explain to me how I am wrong.

He has opposed measures that would improve the situation for first-time buyers.

The Government has missed every target.

Sinn Féin has been anti the first-time buyer initiative.

It is all Sinn Féin's fault. The Government has missed every single target and it is making things worse. It is time for the Tánaiste to get his head out of the sand.

Deputy, please. Can we do this through the Chair? Thank you.