I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Michael O'Regan at the weekend. He had a huge love of and interest in politics. On a personal level, he was also very warm, humorous and kind. I extend my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

The Children's Rights Alliance, in its annual report card, gave the Government a D-minus for family homelessness. Child homelessness has risen by 55% since this Government took office. We now have nearly 4,000 children growing up in emergency accommodation. There has been a 20% increase in family homelessness in the past year alone. How, four years into the lifetime of this Government, are we still seeing so many lives devastated by homelessness? How is solving this crisis not the primary focus of the Government?

Homelessness has a hugely damaging impact on children's mental and physical health. This can last a lifetime. Children who are homeless are more likely to be bullied, are less likely to see their friends and are twice as likely to be hospitalised. Real and lasting damage is being done to more children every day, month and year. Instead of moving heaven and earth to end child homelessness, the Government withdrew one of the only measures to stop it. It lifted the no-fault eviction ban, knowing what the result would be, namely, more children evicted into homelessness. The Government did it anyway.

I ask the Taoiseach not to tell us that the Government cannot build homes overnight. We have been listening to Fine Gael say that for more than a decade now. When the Government's plan is not working, it needs to change it. First, however, it has to admit that it is not working.

When the Government will not even do that, is it any wonder that people are losing hope.

There are solutions that could be adopted tomorrow if the political will were there. These are a return of the no-fault eviction ban, a rent freeze and a tax on vacancy that has real teeth. Houses should not be lying idle in the middle of this housing disaster, but they are, all across the country. Instead of solutions to this crisis all we get is constant spin. The Taoiseach says we have turned a corner and we have exceeded our targets. Simultaneously, the Government has failed to meet its social and affordable housing targets every year since it took office. That is the reality. We do not yet know the complete figures for 2023, but the Government had only reached 29% of its social housing targets by September, so it is not looking good.

Did the Government meet its social and affordable housing targets last year? Is there any level of child homelessness that would prompt the Taoiseach to reintroduce the ban on no-fault evictions?

The Deputy started the question by referring to the annual report card on Government performance that the Children's Rights Alliance produces. This is an independent body and issues its report card every year. It might be useful for people to know that of the 16 measures the Children's Rights Alliance rates the Government on, our grades are up in four, the same in 12 and not down in any category. It is important to put that fact before the House. The impression the Deputy created would have somebody outside believing that we got a fail grade, which would be dishonest politics. What is here in front of me is not something I am delighted about, but the fact is, of the 16 measures the Children's Rights Alliance looks at, our grades are up in four, the same in 12 and have not gone down in any.

In reform of the childcare system, we have gone from a B to an A. When it comes to the free schoolbook scheme, we have gone from a B to an A. When it comes to children in special education getting an appropriate place, we have gone from a C to a B. When it comes to addressing food poverty in children, we have gone from a C to a B. Overall, looking at it objectively, it is a story of progress, not a story of going backwards. This is not my view. That is the view of the Children's Rights Alliance. As I am sure that group would say, it is not enough and not soon enough and we need to do more. Obviously, I take that on board and agree that we need to do more.

On the issue of child homelessness, as we all know, there are many drivers of homelessness in our society. From the Deputy's question, one would be led to believe that the main cause of homelessness is people being evicted from private rented accommodation. That would be misleading because it is not the case. The main cause of homelessness in Ireland, unfortunately, is family breakdown. No matter who is in government, it is very hard to reduce the number of families that are breaking down at any given time. This happens for all sorts of different reasons. There is also an increasing spillover from migration as well. More than 40% of people now in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens. This is also something that is not particularly under our control.

Where homelessness occurs, our objective is to make sure it is rare, short lived and is not repeated. We do our best to make sure that if anybody experiences homelessness, it is for less than a few months. In many cases it is less than six months, and in most cases, less than a year. That being said, I appreciate that a few months can be a very long time in a child's life and can stick with them forever. This is why we are redoubling our efforts to reduce family homelessness. We have increased resources for prevention in particular, which is really important, and we are ramping up the amount of social housing being built. More was built last year than any year since the 1970s, before either the Deputy or I were born. We will build even more this year. We do not have the exact numbers for last year yet but we should have them in the next few weeks.

This is the kind of spin I am referring to when I say that people feel that sense of hopelessness, because the Taoiseach is talking about going from an A to a B in all of these different categories. As I said, child homelessness is up by 55% since this Government took office. This is the main figure that needs to be addressed.

On the eviction ban, in almost every single month since the Taoiseach has been in office, child homelessness has increased. The biggest decreases we saw were while the eviction ban was in place. They are the facts and the ban was lifted anyway.

If we look at the numbers for the six months prior to the eviction ban child homelessness increased by 14.9%, and during the eviction ban child homeless decreased by 0.6%.

A large part of the problem in respect of housing is that the targets have set us up for failure. For a start, they are too low and then the Government is failing to meet them. They are nowhere near what we need to meet demand. According to the leak to The Irish Times, the Housing Commission report states that Ireland needs between 42,000 and 62,000 homes each year. The Minister has had this report since November 2022. Is the Government going to publish that report? I will stick with the one question to try to get an answer to it.

I thank the Deputy. It is a little bit of stretch for her to accuse me of spin when she is quite the Social Democrat spinmeister herself. She is the one who brought up the Children's Rights Alliance report, not me, and she did not acknowledge that of the 16 areas under which it assesses us, our grades are up in four and down in none. Of the 16 areas, there are no fail grades but there is one area in which we are deemed unacceptable. That relates to children in adult psychiatric institutions-----

That is okay, so.

-----and we absolutely take on board that criticism. In terms of a date for the report, I do not have it but I will check with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and come back to the Deputy as soon as I can.