Once again, the RTÉ soap opera is distracting vital attention from the disastrous situation facing those who are at the mercy of our broken housing system. Right now, 13,531 people are recorded as homeless, including more than 4,000 children, and 18,000 homes are being advertised for short lets on Airbnb, while just 2,000 are available on Daft.ie for longer term rents. Rents are skyrocketing far in excess of the legal limits under rent pressure zone legislation. Prospective home buyers in Dublin now need, on average, a combined salary of €127,000, far more than median incomes in Ireland. The cost to so many and to our society of this omnishambles cannot be overstated.

I recently spoke to and heard from a man in his 60s who has been on the housing list for decades. He was taken off the list after he got married because his family income had risen over the limit by just €100. Subsequently, his spouse had to stop working to provide care for a family member and they went back on the list. After some difficulty, today they are renting with the housing assistance payment. This man, who is now retired, has been told by a council official that he will not get a home for more than 12 years. In his own words, he believes he will be dead before they get a place. He and his partner remain in fear of eviction. They have no housing security into older age. His is just one story but it is an important one to tell because his experience underscores the desperate need for action and shows the turmoil caused by the Government's broken housing model.

Tomorrow morning, there is a chance for change. This House will debate a Labour Party motion which sets out a clear plan to change policy and approach and to ensure delivery of homes to buy and stronger protection for those renting.

A change of approach is badly needed. The Government's policies are lacking, its reactions are slow and its ambition is too low. Even the plans the Government has in place are just not working; they are seriously wanting.

This morning, I reviewed the capital that went unspent by the Government in 2023 on housing. Something struck me immediately. Once again, the Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, did not spend his capital budget. In fact, he underspent by €141 million. Based on average construction costs, with that money, the Department could have delivered more than 450 extra homes last year. Spending on the secure tenancies affordable rental scheme also fell short by €20 million, or approximately 100 extra cost-rental homes which could have been delivered. There were similar underspends in respect of urban renewal, regeneration and public housing.

The Government's policies and its overreliance on the private sector mean that it is incapable of delivering the homes we need. It seems that the Government is not spending enough, even on the schemes that are in place.

What is the Government doing for renters, such as, for example, older people who are trapped in insecurity into old age? What is it doing to tackle the disproportionate levels of short-term lettings and to bring Airbnb properties back into the housing market. Why has the Minister for housing consistently failed to spend his capital budget each year since he took office, resulting in the failure to deliver so many homes that could otherwise have been supplied?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a ceist. Housing for All is working. We are building more homes than at any point since 2008 and we are building more social housing than at any point since the 1970s. Tá Tithíocht do Chách ag obair. Tá níos mó tithe á dtógáil againn ná ag aon phointe ó 2008. Tá níos mó tithe sóisialta á dtógáil againn ná ag aon phointe ó na 1960idí.

Every week, 500 people are drawing down their first ever mortgages. That is the most since 2007. Tá 500 duine ag ceannach a gcéad teach gach seachtain. Is é sin an líon is mó ó 2007. Tá muid ag cur cíosa mhíosúil ar ais i bpócaí daoine tríd an chreidmheas cánach cíosa - €750 do dhaoine aonair, €1,500 do lánúin nó os cionn €2,000 do thriúr ag roinnt. We are putting a month's rent back in people's pockets through the rent tax credit, which is €750 for an individual, €1,500 for a couple and more than €2,000 for three people who are sharing.

The Land Development Agency, LDA, is making progress and is building affordable homes to rent and buy all over Ireland. Despite this progress affordable homes to rent and buy all over Ireland. Despite this progress, we know change is not coming quickly enough. As a result, we will publish new, more ambitious targets for homebuilding. I promise we will leave no stone unturned. Tá dul chun cinn á dhéanamh ag an LDA anois. Tá sé ag tógáil tithe inacmhainne le ligean ar cíos nó le ceannach ar fud na hÉireann. D'ainneoin an dul chun cinn seo, tá a fhios agam nach bhfuil sé ag teacht tapa go leor. Mar sin, foilseoidh muid spriocanna nua níos uaillmhianaí maidir le tógáil tithe agus geallaim nach bhfágfaidh muid cloch gan chasadh.

In the context of the Labour Party motion that will be debated in the House this week, the Cabinet gave it consideration today. We have decided not to oppose it and to allow it to pass. We do not agree with all aspects of the motion but we agree with the broad thrust of it. The motion recommends we should increase our housing targets to 50,000 per year. We do not necessarily think that is achievable this year or next, but we do think it is achievable. We think that is an ambition we can share. The motion calls for the tenant in situ scheme to be scaled up. That scheme has been a big success. We agree it should be scaled up in order that we can buy properties from landlords who are leaving the market and allowing housing assistance payment tenants to become regular social housing tenants. The motion expresses frustration at how long it is taking to get EU clearance for the changes we want to make in respect of short-term lets in order to restrict them in our cities where demand for housing is so great.

With regard to the Department of housing there has not been an underspend this year. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, was able to move funding from one area to another, but all within the housing and local government remit. That is not unusual. For example, the Department is using some funding to reduce development levies to make the cost of building lower.

I welcome the news the Government will not be opposing the Labour Party motion. That is welcome. That is constructive. However, not putting down a Government countermotion will be an empty gesture if there is no movement or delivery and no attempt to implement the important measures we have proposed. I agree with the Taoiseach when he says that change is not coming quickly enough.

It is good to hear Government acknowledge that, but the Taoiseach is acknowledging it as if he were a bystander. He is the Taoiseach. He is Taoiseach of a Government that has been in office for four years and, yet, he is still saying that changes are not coming quickly enough. He is still promising the publication of new, more ambitious targets, but it is months since he acknowledged that the targets in Housing for All are simply too low.

I fundamentally disagree with the Taoiseach, as would most people in the country, when he says that Housing for All is working. It is patently not working. Níl sé ag obair. It is simply not working for renters, like the man I heard from who is in his 60s and who is in fear of eviction. That man has no prospect of a secure home of his own. Housing for All is not working for all of those people who cannot find affordable places to rent and who are deeply frustrated when they see the number of short-term lettings advertised on platforms like Airbnb.

Here is a direct question, and it is in the Labour Party's motion: what is the Government going to do to regulate short-term lettings? It is not good enough to simply sit back and wait to see what happens at EU level. What is the Government doing creatively to tackle and regulate the over-preponderance of short-term lettings in our housing market?

The context in which we are dealing with the housing crisis is one of a rapidly-rising population and changing demographics. Households are smaller and, as a result, we require more houses and apartments. We are running up an escalator that is coming down at us quite fast, but we are making progress. More than 30,000 new homes were built last year, the highest number since 2008. We will build even more this year. There are some 500 first-time buyers every week drawing down their first mortgages. We have not seen that since the Celtic tiger period. There is more social housing being built than at any point in the 1970s. That housing is very much needed. The LDA is starting to produce results, building cost-rental and affordable homes for purchase all over this city and in other parts of the country. We want to restrict short-term letting significantly, not in tourist areas but in our cities, where there is enormous demand for housing. That is currently being held up by the European Commission but it is something we are pursuing.