Last year more than 21,000 Irish citizens were granted Australian working holiday visas. This was the highest recorded figure in 16 years. Even during the 2008 crash just 12,847 visas for Australia were issued. A figure of 21,000 last year when we have full employment in this country is extraordinary. It is something we should be talking about in this House because clearly it is no country for young people. Those young people are now voting with their feet. Many of them do not want to leave but they feel they have no other choice if they do not want to spend their entire 20s and 30s, even into their 40s, living in their childhood bedrooms while their life is passing them by.

Increasingly people just have no hope for their housing prospects in Ireland. Rents have doubled in the past decade and young people simply cannot afford them. Record house prices mean that dreams of home ownership are long gone. Housing is more than an investment vehicle and it is about more than bricks and mortar. It is about independence, security, relationships and starting a family. It is the foundation for so much that is central to a happy life but that foundation is missing now for an entire generation.

How does the Minister think it feels for those people and for their parents when the Minister's approach is tried, tested and has failed, and yet he consistently comes in here in a state of denial making promises that are later broken and setting targets that are not met? We have now heard promises for years that things will get better. Simultaneously, we are seeing reports that an investment fund bought up 85% of the homes in a Dublin housing estate, which is just the latest example that things are not changing.

The flippant attitude of the Minister and his Government towards this speaks volumes. Government Deputies have spent the last week downplaying it and the Minister has just done the same here. The fact that the Minister has not bothered to close such a gaping loophole tells us all we need to know about where his priorities lie. It is not with vulnerable renters or struggling first-time buyers who obviously cannot compete with €800 million funds that are cashing in on a crisis. Those 46 homes in Dublin are now on the rental market for €3,125 per month. This is rent of €37,500 a year. This is why 21,000 young people left this country to go to Australia last year. This is why it is obvious to everyone that the Minister's approach is not working. This is why people have run out of hope.

It is my belief that the only thing that will change this is a change of Government but perhaps the Minister will prove us wrong. The Minister's 10% stamp duty on the bulk purchase of homes is clearly no disincentive to funds that are making super profits from a housing crisis. Sinn Féin's proposal to increase it to 17% will not work either. It is too weak. My colleague, Deputy Cian O'Callaghan has put down an amendment to increase stamp duty on bulk purchase homes to 200%. It is an effective ban. We need an effective ban on the bulk purchase of homes. Will the Minister do that and make some effort to at least deal with that low-hanging fruit?

I must first reject the Deputy's assertion that in any way, shape or form we deal with housing in a flippant way. We certainly do not. We are very serious about it. This Government is investing more than any previous Government has in housing. We brought forward measures to help in housing. I would also say to the Deputy that while people do travel perhaps the Deputy has read about the housing situation in Australia and the cost of housing and rents in Australia. It is far worse than here. Some 30,000 Irish citizens came back last year as well, which the Deputy neglected to say. Measures we brought forward such as the Affordable Housing Act actually legislated for cost rental. With cost rental we now have thousands of tenancies approved. Cost rental did not exist here and now we have State-backed affordable rents for working people. I remind the Deputy that her party opposed the Affordable Housing Act and voted against it. They voted against that legislation which established the affordable housing fund. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan will be aware of this because in the Fingal area his party also opposed at every given stage one of the largest affordable social housing developments in the country of 1,200 homes in Donabate, 253 of which were social-----

That is not true. The Minister is misleading the Dáil. We wanted them all to be affordable homes.

-----and private homes as well.

That is not true. We wanted them all to be affordable.

Then the Social Democrats also say they want us to build on State land. We are building on State land.

Building private homes.

When we brought forward the Land Development Agency Act what did the Social Democrats do? They voted against that as well. They voted against the Affordable Housing Act. They voted against the Land Development Agency Act.

Consider the first-time buyers that the Social Democrats purport to want to represent. They opposed the help-to-buy grant, they opposed the first home scheme-----

Will the Minister deal with the question?

We are bringing forward measures that are actually working and it takes time to turn housing around. Consider where we are with completions. Since we have taken over and since this coalition has come into government, by the end of 2023 we had built more than 100,000 new homes in this country. There are still stresses and demands there, unquestionably, and that is why we need to increase supply across all tenures. This is why last year we built more new social homes than Ireland has done in 50 years and affordable homes for the first time in a generation.

With regard to renters, cost rental is taking hold now. We now have cost-rental apartment developments right across this country. I have met those tenants and have met people who have actually been able to get safe and secure tenancies at a minimum of 25% below market. That is working but the Social Democrats have opposed every single measure and every single piece of legislation that has come in here-----

The Government opposed our amendments to improve it.

The voting record speaks for itself. I still await the Social Democrats' housing policy or housing plan as to what they would do differently.

There is the proposal to increase the bulk buy stamp duty.

The reality is that we back first-time buyers and we back renters. We brought in the renters' tax credit as well to help defray the costs there. The rental market is far from perfect. I know that.

On bulk purchase the Deputies will also know - as I have explained to Deputy Doherty earlier - that we have changed the planning law from May 2021. More than 40,000 homes now have the owner-occupier guarantee in place. That is there. It is a legacy issue that about 1% of properties have been purchased in that way and the 10% surcharge applies to those. I said already in response to Deputy Doherty that this rate should be reviewed and will be reviewed but let us put it in context as well; it is less than 1% of property transactions.

The Minister's defence is, quite frankly, pathetic. All he does is come in here and mislead the Dáil about housing objections. He knows that what he said is not true.

Hear, hear.

It says a lot about the absence of a real defence on this.

The record shows.

The Minister tries to bamboozle people with figures when he comes in with his replies. Here is a figure: the Minister promised 55,000 affordable homes in 2023. He delivered 4% of that by October.

Is Deputy Cairns saying 54,000 affordable homes in one year?

That is what the promise was. The Minister comes in here and sets targets but does not meet them.

It was 30,000 houses in total.

The Minister speaks about putting things in context and the reality of how long it takes to build homes. Everyone recognises that it takes time to address this. We have had 12 years of Fine Gael in government trying to address this and it is simply not working. The Minister says we are making no suggestions. I just made a suggestion to try to stamp out the bulk buying of homes. We need an effective ban. There is a suggestion. Other low-hanging fruit include tackling vacancy. At a time when house price inflation was 10%, the Minister introduced a 0.3% tax on vacancy. That is feigning an attempt to address vacancy. He is feigning an attempt to stamp out the bulk buying of homes. These are two suggestions. They are low-hanging fruit and the Minister can do that immediately. Will he do it?

Everything I have stated here in the House is correct in relation to the Social Democrats' approach to housing.

We know your own approach to housing.

Tell me one thing I said that is incorrect. You cannot do so because what I have stated is fact.

We supported 1,200 affordable homes in Donabate.

The reality is that we have brought changes into planning to ensure the owner-occupier guarantee is there.

Please answer the question.

That is in place. More than 40,000 homes have that condition in place. There are legacy issues with planning permission granted before this. I do not like to see the sale of family homes to vulture funds either. This is what I said in response to Deputy Doherty and I have already said to Deputy Cairns that the rate will be reviewed. I intend to have discussions with the Minister for Finance in this regard. We have to put it in context also. Deputy Cairns cannot catastrophise everything, particularly when she comes in here and does not have any policies herself. Her party has not come forward with any suggestions on housing delivery.

You do not listen.

With regard to the 54,000 figure, our target last year was 29,000 new homes. We will exceed that and Deputy Cairns will see this later this month or in early February. We will exceed it substantially. For the second year of Housing for All, we will exceed our targets and we will deliver more than 100,000 new homes. We know we need to do a lot more and we are determined to do it.