I want to start by acknowledging the sad death of Shane MacGowan. His legacy of iconic music is a testament to his genius. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I offer my condolences to his family, his friends and all who loved him.

I am wondering how high is too high. How high will rents have to go before the Government says, "enough", and does something about them?

There is another report out today detailing sky-high rents. This time it is from the RTB. Rents for new tenancies are up an enormous 11.6%. Across the country, that means an average rent of €1,574 per month. Just three years ago, when the Tánaiste entered Government, average rents were €1,226. That is an increase of nearly €350 per month since the Tánaiste took office.

The price of a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party Government to renters out there is an extra €4,200 per year going to their landlords since the Tánaiste took office. Does the Tánaiste know how difficult it is for students, workers and families to scrape together an extra €4,200 per year? Does the Tánaiste know that families go without - without proper meals, without heating and without warm coats in the winter - to pay their rent? Does the Tánaiste know how hopeless and trapped people feel because they cannot afford to move out of their childhood bedroom? Does the Tánaiste know how difficult it is to save for a house when almost all of your income is going towards soaring rent? If the Tánaiste knows all of this, why will he not do anything about it?

Why does the Tánaiste continue to gaslight the nation and come in here and tell us that this failure is somehow a success? I can guess one of the things the Tánaiste might say. The Tánaiste will say rent increases for existing tenants are lower, but their rents went up by 5.3% and average rents are €1,332. What the Tánaiste should acknowledge is that those figures are only more evidence that the rental market is broken.

The maximum rent increase in rent pressure zones is supposed to be 2%. Fianna Fáil's Minister brought in that rule, but clearly landlords up and down the country are ignoring that upward threshold and charging whatever they like. Why would they not?

The Government has overseen tenancy laws that amount to zero rights for renters. For no reason at all, tenants can be evicted. Meanwhile the regulator, the RTB, is not so much toothless as comatose. It either does not have the power, the resources or the interest to pursue landlords who breach the regulations.

I have listened to members of the Government make earnest promises on housing for years. The Tánaiste says it is the Government's top priority but every year the crisis gets worse, rents become even more unaffordable, the prospect of owning a home gets more out of reach and a record number of people are in homelessness. We are all tired of these broken promises. It is time for action. Will the Tánaiste freeze rents for three years, introduce a ban on no-fault evictions and introduce a rent register so there is some transparency around rents?

We all recognise - I said it already - that housing is the most significant social issue we face in this country. I am interested in coming up with solutions. I have heard precious little from the Deputy other than a good descriptive analysis of the current situation, but actually no solutions. Freezing rent is not a solution because it would cause a further exodus from the rental market, which would reduce supply and would result in ever increasing rental prices. That is the reality.

Supply has to be the solution here. We have a range of schemes that we have developed to increase housing supply and we have brought in the tax credit to help people to alleviate the pressures of increasing rents. We have strengthened very significantly the powers of the RTB. It is not fair or accurate to say that nothing is being done in terms of regulation in respect of the rental situation.

The Deputy mentioned the rent pressure zones. Seventy-five per cent are now covered by rent pressure zones.

This RTB index does not capture compliance. It is not as simple as the Deputy articulated in terms of breaches of the 2% or not. However, there are sanctions and significant resources have been allocated to the RTB in respect of that issue. An ESRI study of the RPZs with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has said that if it was not for the RPZs and the zoning, the inflation in house rents would be notably higher. Therefore, they are impactful, notwithstanding the very high levels of rent across the country which is a function of supply.

In the last three years alone since this Government came in, about 100,000 new homes will have been delivered. We had Covid-19 which impacted initially, in the first year and a half of Government, in terms of house construction. We have also brought in the tenant in situ scheme, with 2,500 sales now being progressed on that scheme alone. We have brought in cost rental, which has rents 25% below the market level. Quite a substantial number of cost-rental homes have been made available. That is a whole new form of tenure and we will drive that on in the months to come. There has been a very wide-ranging number of schemes to get housing supply up. Ultimately, that is key.

I would argue, by the way, that over the past three years much of the negativity around the rental market and proposals for freezing, etc., has had a negative impact on supply. That is an issue that we need to continue to focus on, namely how we get more houses into the market, in particular, the rental market, so that we can get supply, get the rents or at least their rate of increase down, and develop schemes, as we have, in terms of social housing and cost rental so that we can give options to people for much lower rents than currently is the case.

Listening to the Tánaiste, one would swear that this is some kind of big conspiracy to make Fianna Fáil and the Government look bad when they are doing everything that they can, but if it is, I am afraid that the RTB, the ESRI and loads more are in it with me. The Tánaiste may not want to admit it but the facts are the facts. The facts are that rents in this country under the Tánaiste's watch are a runaway train. The Tánaiste keeps coming in here and telling us that everything is under control but every year it gets worse.

At what point will the Government actually admit that its approach is not working? People out there cannot afford any more of these mistakes. Since the Tánaiste's Government came into office in 2020, it has cost renters an additional €4,200 a year. How much more will people have to pay for this failure and denial?

The Tánaiste says that housing is the biggest social issue we face. I agree with him but why does he not act like it is and do something about it? He is constantly asking for solutions. I know that there are bigger solutions around supply, and all of those things are absolutely necessary and I am not disregarding them, but given the consistently rising figures in homelessness, will he introduce a rent freeze, bring back the ban on no-fault evictions and introduce a rent register so that renters at least know if they are being ripped off?

First of all, there is a dearth of proposals and solutions coming from the Deputy and her party on housing. I do not see any detailed proposals over and above what is in Housing for All, the Government's comprehensive housing plan in terms of increasing supply. The Deputy has made a passing reference in her question where she accepts that there is a higher and greater need for housing supply. Housing supply is the key.

I know that.

Some of the policies which she has put forward such as banning and freezing would actually reduce supply, and would have a very negative impact on the rental market. That would mean higher prices again. I have to challenge that simplistic notion that we can simply ban everything for three years and that everything will then be the same or will get better. If one bans anything for three years, people will get out of the market and do other things. We have seen that and have tried to clamp down on some of that with regard to Airbnb, and so forth, and to provide for planning permissions so as to try to keep a higher number of houses in the rental market, so that we can keep downward pressure on prices.

The way, I respectfully suggest, that Deputy Cairns is proposing that policy should be directed would actually reduce supply and increase prices even more.

Where is the Tánaiste's evidence for that?