I, too, welcome the good news about the progress overnight in Northern Ireland towards the long overdue restoration of the Stormont institutions and the executive.

Is í tithíocht an cnámh spairne is mó sa Stát. Tá géarghá le níos mó tithíocht a aimsiú agus a thógáil go práinneach ach teastaíonn go leor féinsmachta chuige sin. Níl aon dul chun cinn á dhéanamh.

The housing disaster continues to dominate every aspect of Irish life. Last week, we saw new figures on homelessness. Thousands of people, including nearly 4,000 children, are recorded as homeless. Large companies, such as Ryanair, are now resorting to buying up homes for their workforces at scale. Some unscrupulous landlords are acting with impunity. We are seeing the health of renters and local authority tenants suffer due to poor conditions, including mould and damp, with little action or follow-up from inspectors.

It is a core function and duty of the State to vindicate the right of everyone who lives here to have decent, secure and affordable housing. In allowing this housing crisis to deepen and worsen, the Government is failing to fulfil that duty, and people across the country are worse off as a result. I want to focus on the rights of tenants. We spoke last week on Leaders' Questions about the respiratory ill health of council tenants in the Oliver Bond flats. Today I want to talk about the ways in which the State is also failing renters in the private sector. We are all too familiar with the many cases concerning Luxembourg-based landlord Marc Godart. Without commenting on the proceedings against him currently in respect of unpaid awards by the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, his other recent appearances in the news underscore the need for stronger legal protections for renters. Mr. Godart's tenants have faced the removal of essential furniture, such as beds and doors, to expedite the eviction process. Some were evicted en masse to facilitate letting through short-stay tourism websites. Others had to deal with the installation of CCTV cameras in their private living areas, which is an unimaginable incursion on people's privacy.

It is true that some of these outrageous actions have been dealt with by the RTB, which is welcome. However, the bravery of Mr. Godart's tenants in coming forward has prompted other renters to contact me, my Labour Party colleagues and no doubt others in this House to tell those stories of poor treatment by landlords in the private rental sector. Unfortunately, while all these experiences were stark, many did not amount to a breach of our weak legal protections for renters. The Labour Party Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill would have addressed all these problems and more but the Government refuses to pass it or to take anything more than token measures to protect renters. No one should have to live in squalor or insecure housing. As long as the Government continues to fail to deliver enough homes, more and more people will be trapped in rental insecurity.

Will the Taoiseach commit to urgently passing stronger legislation to protect renters and will he ramp up delivery of homes? When will the Government act with the necessary ambition and urgency to deliver the supply of houses our renters and all of those who are trapped in insecurity so desperately need?

I join Deputies Bacik and Doherty in welcoming the news earlier this morning that the DUP is willing to re-enter power-sharing in Northern Ireland. This paves the way for democratic and devolved government to be restored, for the assembly to function and for the executive to meet and make decisions for Northern Ireland. Crucially, it will also allow the North-South bodies, including the North-South Ministerial Council, to work again. Many of the problems people face in Northern Ireland are very similar to those we face here and it is important that they have a democratic and devolved government up and running to deal with those very real issues. I had a chance to speak with the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier today. He briefed me on the situation and we agreed to continue to work together on issues of mutual interest and mutual concern such as this. It is hoped that we can have the institutions up and running and the necessary legislation passed in Westminster before 8 February. It is very positive that as we enter the spring, there is new hope that the Good Friday Agreement can work again. I think we will all agree that this would be very desirable.

Once again, I appreciate that a lot of people are suffering because of the housing crisis and that this manifests itself in different ways, including renters paying rents that are too high or having a bad experience with their landlords, but we are making progress and we are helping. As I mentioned earlier, 33,000 new homes were built last year, which is the highest number in 15 years, and 500 first-time buyers are drawing down their first mortgage every week. We have not seen this since 2007 when I was in my late twenties. That is how much it has changed in the past couple of years and how much progress we are making. We are also seeing dereliction and vacancy rates falling, in part because of the actions this Government has taken.

Regarding the matters raised by the Deputy, for obvious reasons, I do not want to go into individual cases when I do not know all the details and I do not want to say anything that might jeopardise prosecutions or enforcement actions that are under way. In terms of what we can do to help renters, we have brought in the rent tax credit, which is putting a month's rent back into the pockets of average renters. We have brought in new laws to extend the terms people are given such as the notice to quit time period so people can have more time to find a new home if they need to. We are also dramatically expanding cost rental, which is a new form of affordable housing and a new form of public housing where the Government in partnership with others provides properties that people can rent at affordable rates where they do not qualify for social housing. We are going to continue to build on that in the years ahead. We are always open to considering ideas and recommendations from other parties as to how we can strengthen renters' rights but we need to make sure that we get the balance right.

I welcome the Taoiseach's comments on the likely progress in Northern Ireland. I think we all welcome it.

However, in terms of housing, there is simply not enough progress from Government nor is there enough ambition or urgency in the delivery of housing. I listened carefully to the Taoiseach's response on housing and I am glad that he said that the Government will take Opposition suggestions on board. Two years ago, we put forward a Bill to protect renters and provide for greater legal security for renters. The Government has not worked with us to progress that Bill. We are again asking the Taoiseach to do so to ensure stronger protections for renters because that is an essential part of addressing the housing crisis. It is a crisis that is biting and affecting every household. Every one of us has had experience of meeting constituents and people coming up to us on the street - it happened to me again at the weekend out canvassing - and telling us ,"I may be okay but my adult children will never be able to afford a home in Dublin in the current circumstances." That is what is driving people to emigrate. That is what is thwarting and stunting people's growth and development - the growth and development of our younger generation. We are simply not seeing the sort of delivery. Even in respect of the Taoiseach's figures, just one in 50 of the 6,300 applications for the vacant property refurbishment grants have been drawn down while renters' rights remain far too weak. When will the Government act to ensure we have stronger renters' rights in law and when will it announce those revised upwards housing targets so we can see the necessary scale of ambition to deliver the homes we need?

We are always happy to consider proposals for new laws and regulations but any time we consider a new law or regulation, we must always consider the unintended consequences.

We have seen that play out so many times. When renters are surveyed, as the Deputy will know from the recently published survey, approximately 80% say they have a favourable experience. That still leaves 20% with a bad experience. That is a lot of people when you consider the number of people who are renting. What we want to do with the RTB, in particular, is make sure it is better at enforcing the laws that already exist. That works both ways. I meet lots of renters who are annoyed with the RTB for not enforcing the laws that exist already. I also meet landlords who have not received rent for months, whose properties have been damaged and who do not believe the RTB is working in their favour. We need to make sure that organisation is properly resourced and staffed and has the right IT systems so it can enforce existing laws. That is something I know the Minister is working hard on.