I rise for the last time this year. I wish everybody a happy Christmas. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for all his work. I thank the staff here in the Oireachtas, who I am sure will be relieved to see the back of us for just a short while.

Life in Ireland is hard for renters. Research published this morning by the Residential Tenancies Board cites affordability and insecurity of tenure among their top concerns, while a new survey conducted by EPAM reveals that 60% of young adults cannot meet their living expenses. They are living from pay cheque to pay cheque. Against this backdrop of insecurity, the homelessness crisis has never been worse. More than 4,000 children will wake up on Christmas morning in a hub, a hostel or a bed and breakfast.

For many of these children, it will be their third or even fourth visit from Santa in emergency accommodation. No child or family should spend Christmas this way. Each child deserves a place they call home. Sinn Féin’s Bill to be voted on in the Dáil tonight would reintroduce the Government’s ban on no-fault evictions immediately, with the reintroduced ban lasting until the end of March. It would protect workers and families from being evicted when they have done nothing wrong. I remind the Taoiseach that more than 80% of eviction notices are issued to people and families who have done nothing wrong, who have paid their rent and who have looked after their homes, but still got the devastating news that they are to be evicted. Let me share the stories of some of these families.

Lily and her five-year-old daughter face eviction from their home on New Year’s Day. This little girl goes on Christmas holidays from school next week not knowing if she will be back with her class in January or where she will be living.

Barry, Eimear and their new baby face eviction. Eimear says the experience has taken a serious toll on their mental health and has left Barry, who is a hard-working, committed front-line worker, feeling defeated as a father. They feel betrayed as working, tax-paying citizens.

Louise and her four children have lived in their rented home for over ten years. Louise has been served with an eviction notice for January. Her landlord is willing to sell the house to the council, but Louise is currently not being considered for the tenant in situ scheme. She and her children face losing what has been their home for a decade.

Damien and Amy are a young couple expecting their first child. They too have been served with an eviction notice. They have desperately searched for alternative rented accommodation but to no avail. They now face the prospect of being homeless at Christmas. They say they feel angry, broken and terrified. Damien and Amy say they will have no choice but to sleep in their car.

These harrowing stories are replicated across the country. Ní mór don Rialtas an cosc sealadach ar díbirt gan locht a chur ar ais le chinntiú nach féidir le oibrithe agus teaghlaigh a bheith caite amach nuair nach bhfuil aon rud mícheart déanta acu, agus le stop a chur le níos mó páistí a bheith gan dídean an Nollaig seo.

Tonight, every TD has the chance to vote to protect these families that are faced with eviction. I ask everyone to do so. This is something that should unite us. However, the Government has set its face against reinstating the temporary ban on eviction for these families. I ask the Taoiseach very simply to change his mind. I ask him to act this evening to prevent more children becoming homeless this Christmas.

I thank the Deputy for her question. As this is my last time to speak in the Chamber this year, I also want to thank the Ceann Comhairle, all colleagues in the House and particularly the staff of the Oireachtas, the members of the Press Gallery and others for all of the work they have done this year. I look forward to seeing everybody in the new year after a well-earned break.

I would like to confirm that Santa Claus has permission to enter Irish airspace and to cross our borders on 24 December through 25 December. I want to thank the IAA, INIS, the Department of agriculture and the Revenue Commissioners for allowing the necessary exemptions to occur.

While Christmas is a great time for most people, I appreciate that it is very stressful for many, not least those who will spend Christmas in emergency accommodation. There are about 13,000 people, including almost 4,000 children, in such circumstances at present. However, I do not believe the solution the Deputy is putting forward is the correct one. The Sinn Féin proposal is for a temporary eviction ban to run until March. I do not think this is a good idea because all that will happen is that we will end up with a glut of evictions in April, May and June, which will be even harder to deal with. We do not want that to be the case. We know from the last temporary eviction ban - one that I voted for and introduced as Tánaiste at the time - that the number of people in emergency accommodation did not fall. It continued to rise during that period. Once the ban was removed, we had the glut of evictions which I referred to. I do not think the Deputy's solution is the right one. The right one is to continue to ramp up investment in social housing and cost rental so that people have secure tenancies. This is exactly what we are doing.

In the early part of her remarks, the Deputy mentioned that many people have a very bad experience with the private rental sector. Of course, this is true. Many people face high rents, are in substandard accommodation or may not have good landlords. However, it is very important in this House that we have evidenced-based debates, which are measured and balanced. What may be the lived experience for many people or some people is not necessarily the lived experience for most people or the majority of people.

The Deputy mentioned the RTB survey in her remarks. I wonder if she has actually read the survey, which is a detailed survey of renters and landlords. It shows that 80% of private renters said that they are positive or very positive about renting their current property. They said that the median amount of rent they spend is 30% of their net income after tax. Academics say that the affordability threshold is 35%, so it is well under that figure. This has been unchanged since 2019 or 2020. This indicates that affordability has been stable since then. In addition, it shows that the median rent in 2022 was €1,350, which means that half pay more than that and half pay less.

The median rent in the country is roughly €1,350. Two people sharing pay just under €700 each. Perhaps most interestingly of all, of the more than 2,000 people who took part in an independent survey, 70% said their current rent was the same or lower than when they first moved into the property. That is what is happening on the ground. I do not deny for a second that many people may have a lived experience that is different, but it is important the Deputy should acknowledge that survey because that is the reality for the majority of people.

Rents are too high. I hope the Taoiseach is not disputing that. I hope he is also not disputing the fact that in the third quarter of this year, 4,518 people received notices to quit - eviction notices. More than 80% of those were no-fault evictions. In other words, the people concerned had done nothing wrong. They had paid the rent, looked after the property and so on. The Taoiseach is not disputing either that there are 13,000 people who are homeless and who are in emergency accommodation. Some 4,000 of them are children. I do not think that the Taoiseach or the Government should try to evade those harrowing and heartbreaking facts. I have shared four stories; I could share hundreds more stories of people under real pressure. Is a temporary ban on evictions of people who have done nothing wrong the solution to the housing crisis? Of course it is not. Of course it is about supply. Of course it is about intervening to bring rents down and in fact banning rent increases. We have rehearsed all of that and we will, it seems, again and again.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.

For families facing eviction now and particularly at this time of the year, at Christmastime, it is a solution for them for the Government to intervene and protect them and ensure that they will not present as homeless, as hundreds do every single month. In October, it was 352.

Go raibh maith agat. Tá an t-am caite.

We can avoid that happening at Christmastime. We can give these families the care, support and breathing space that we need. We can do that through the reintroduction of the temporary ban on evictions for people who have done nothing wrong.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.

I am asking the Government to act compassionately in this regard.

I do not dispute for a second that it is a sad reality that over 13,000 people will spend Christmas in emergency accommodation; in fact, I said so in my opening remarks. I cannot understand why the Deputy would try to claim I was saying otherwise because I did not. I also said what I thought was the solution, which is ramping up social housing, ramping up cost-rental housing and standing up to those who in their constituencies oppose things, particularly those such as Deputy McDonald who oppose one-bed apartments in their constituencies, because that is actually the area where the greatest shortages are when it comes to housing in this city. I appreciate the stories that she mentioned are real. They reflect people's lived experience. However, the survey I mentioned, which the Deputy mentioned earlier, reflects real stories - over 2,000 real stories.

Yes, but they are not being evicted.

They are real stories that are representative of what is happening. I find more and more that when Sinn Féin spokespeople are on the radio and the TV and are talking about housing, they are not challenged at all when it comes to facts such as this. I hope that will change in 2024, namely, that when people go on radio and TV-----

Did you hear the stories I shared with you?

-----they are properly challenged.

Jesus. Happy Christmas, Taoiseach.

I will read it out again. Some 80% of tenants surveyed said they were positive or very positive about renting. For 70% their rent had either gone down or stayed the same.

The time is up.

On affordability, 30% was the median amount of their monthly income people paid on rents. These are not just individual stories; these are 2,000 representative stories. I do not understand why Sinn Féin representatives when appearing on the media are never challenged with these things.

If the Minister could come out and debate, it would solve that for you.