I have lost count of the number of times I have asked the Taoiseach to ban rent increases; each time he has said "No". Despite rents soaring to unaffordable levels, the Taoiseach will not budge. Now, because of his refusal to act, runaway rents have hit an all-time high. The recent report of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, shows massive rent hikes over the last 12 months. New rents have increased by almost 12% in the last year. It is the highest annual rent hike since the RTB began recording these figures 15 years ago. The average new rent being charged across the State is €1,600. An average of €2,105 per month is being charged in Dublin. This is off the wall stuff and is not sustainable for any worker, family or young person.

Runaway rents have become almost normalised on the watch of the Government but there is nothing normal about hard-pressed renters being fleeced right, left and centre. There is nothing normal about levels of rent that keep going up and up. How are renters to build a good life as they fork out these extortionate rents? Most do not stand a chance of getting a mortgage deposit together; not a hope. Every month is another hammer blow to renters who want to own a home. They do all of the right things. They work hard, make cutbacks, scrimp and save but with each rent hike the dream of homeownership is pushed even farther away. Is it any wonder that homeownership has collapsed under this Government for a generation? It is no wonder that renters pack their bags for Australia and Canada; they are getting out of Dodge. Older renters approaching pension age are also caught up in this nightmare. They worry that their pension will not cover their rent. What an awful feeling it must be for someone who has worked hard all of their life, only to be left with this terrible uncertainty.

Families, workers and young people deserve and need affordable housing and rent. Yet the response of the Government has been to set affordable housing targets that are far too low and to miss those targets again and again. The Government tells us its housing plan is working but that claim does not stack up in the real world. Housing prices are up, homeownership is down, rents are through the roof and homelessness is at record levels. That is the Government's performance on housing and its repeated message to renters is "Do not look to us for real help; you are on your own". That will not wash any more. Renters need meaningful action now. The tax credit the Government provided is too low and it is being swallowed up by extortionate rent hikes. Without a ban on rent increases, this will keep happening.

Ní thagann aon deireadh le cíosanna ró-dhaor. Caithfidh an Rialtas cosc a chur ar arduithe cíosanna ar feadh trí bliana agus cíosanna a ghearradh trí cíos iomlán na míosa a chur ar ais i bpócaí cíosaithe. Renters are crying out to Government for help that will make an impact and a difference. Sinn Féin brings a motion before the Dáil tonight. It calls on the Government to do two things for renters. First, it calls on the Government to implement an emergency three-year ban on rent increases. Second, it calls on the Government to cut rents by putting a full month of rent back in the pockets of every private renter. Will the Government finally take these actions?

We have rent pressure zones in Ireland. We introduced them many years ago and the vast majority of people renting in Ireland are covered and protected by them. That means there are increases of between 0% and 4% per year. We have also introduced the rent tax credit and that is a big help for a lot of people.

Next year, it is €750 a year for a single person and €1,500 a year for a couple who are renting together. That, in many cases, is a month's rent back in renters' pockets. Deputy McDonald mentioned some figures that were out in the past couple of days. Those figures show that the average rent paid by somebody in Ireland in an existing tenancy is around €1,300 a month, which is per property, not per renter. It is obviously higher in Dublin and lower outside of Dublin and the major cities. The figures the Deputy specifically referred to relate to new tenancies. New tenancies are properties that are being put on the market and rented out for the first time. Where an existing tenancy is rolled over, the rent pressure zone continues to apply.

Rent pressure zones do not apply to properties being put on the market for the first time. The obvious difficulty with what Deputy McDonald proposes is that if one imposes a rent freeze on a property that is being rented for the first time, it only applies after it has been rented out. That is the difficulty with what the Deputy proposes. The problem that we see in imposing rent freezes for three years, which is Sinn Féin's policy, is that it would almost certainly reduce new supply. What we desperately need in Ireland is new supply of homes of all types, including homes for people to purchase, social housing and also homes for people to rent. Sinn Féin's policy would mean fewer properties being available for people to rent. That might be of benefit to people who are renting already but it would pull up the ladder on people who need to rent for the first time, for example, young people, students who are getting their first job, and new arrivals to this country such as nurses coming to work in our health service, or indeed people coming back from Australia, the UK and places they may have migrated to.

I have good news for Deputy McDonald when it comes to homeownership. We are seeing record numbers of first-time buyers. We have not seen the numbers of first-time buyers that we have seen recently for 16 years. About 500 first-time mortgages are being drawn down every week and about 400 people buy their first home. We have not seen that in 16 years. That is happening because of some of the policies that Government has put forward, including increasing housing supply, reducing the cost of building new homes by getting rid of development levies or suspending them, which Sinn Féin is opposed to, the help-to-buy scheme, which Sinn Féin is opposed to, giving people their taxes back to help with a deposit when they are buying a new home, and also schemes like first home. These are all things that Sinn Féin would take away from people and Deputy McDonald needs to be honest about that. Sinn Féin is not a party of homeownership. It wants to take away from people all the things that the Government has put in place to help people buy a first home.

Homeownership has collapsed on the Taoiseach's watch. That is not just my opinion or view. I do not say that from a position of bias. That is the fact of the matter. We have runaway rent, record levels of homelessness, and rents that are crippling people. That is the fact. The figures that I have quoted to the Taoiseach are from the Residential Tenancies Board. It also reports that existing rents - not new rents but existing rents - are up by 5.5% in Dublin and 5% across the State. This is a bad news story all around. I am simply asking the Taoiseach to intervene at a time where he has to know how badly people are struggling. He has to know that if he lives in the real world at all. Families, workers and young people are really struggling to keep a roof over their heads. I am simply asking the Taoiseach to intervene and do a thing that is eminently sensible. For three years, make it the case that there can be no further increase in rents. Just ban rent increases for three years. It is common sense and it answers directly the experience, situation and hardship that so many families, workers and young people are experiencing now.

The Deputy says things with such a level of confidence that I would say many people actually believe her. Does she actually know the facts? The census states that in 2011, when I was first appointed to government, 1.15 million people owned their own home. In the last census, in 2022, 1.2 million people owned their own home. In raw numbers, more people owned their own home in 2022-----

It is the population.

What is the proportion?

-----than was the case in 2011. Fair enough, the population has increased, so homeownership in the census in 2022-----

As a percentage of housing stock, it has fallen. The Taoiseach knows that.

-----was 68.9% while in 2011, it was 70.4%. Is that really a collapse?

By the way, just in case the Deputy is not aware, percentages have to add up to 100. One of the reasons we have seen a change in numbers is because the percentage of people benefiting from social housing has gone up from 8.7% in 2011 to 10% in 2022.

That is not true. Mathematical wizardry.

It is true.

Please, Deputies.

It is in the actual census.

Maths is not the Taoiseach's thing.

Facts are not your thing.

Alternative facts.

Will the Deputies calm down, please? Will the mass exodus from the Chamber be quiet as well?