Is é toradh pholasaí Fhine Gael ar an ngéarchéim tithíochta an leibhéal is airde easpa dídine ar taifead, na praghsanna tithíochta agus cíosanna is airde a bhí againn riamh, an leibhéal úinéireachta tí is ísle le 50 bliain agus seirbhísí sláinte i ngéarchéim. Is toradh pholasaí Fhine Gael é sin. Ní anois an t-am don tríú Taoiseach ó bhí an t-olltoghchán agus ní anois an t-am le leanúint ar aghaidh le polasaithe an Rialtais, atá tar éis teipeadh. Tá sé in am d'athrú agus d'olltoghchán.

The Tánaiste and his party have been facilitating the election of Fine Gael taoisigh since 2016, and the legacy of Fine Gael in office and of Fianna Fáil's time propping it up is the housing crisis. The State, to its shame, has the highest ever level of homelessness. It has seen the highest house prices ever, the highest rents we have ever seen and the lowest levels of homeownership in 50 years. That is Leo's legacy, but it is also the Tánaiste's legacy and his Government's legacy. No matter who becomes Taoiseach from within this Government, it is the policies and the approach that are wrong. No matter who leads Fine Gael, that will not change.

I am not surprised, and I can understand why, many in the Tánaiste's party are questioning its purpose when Fianna Fáil is set to facilitate the election of a Fine Gael Taoiseach for the fourth time since 2016. We are told the front-runner for the highest office in the land is Simon Harris. Let us remember that this is a Minister whose record in the Department of Health was so bad that it precipitated the last general election, a man who made false promises to children with scoliosis and their families about when they would get their treatment. Most importantly, this is a man who has backed Government policies to the hilt, who has been instrumental in successive Government failures in health, housing and mental health services. If he is the best this Government can muster, it is clear this is a Government that is out of touch, out of time and out of ideas.

We are, since yesterday, in uncharted territory. We are set to have had three taoisigh in a single Government term. Two taoisigh will have come from a party that came third in a general election. Yesterday, the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, threw in the towel, acknowledging he was not up for the job, but it is our view that no one in the Government is up for the job. On the key issues and challenges this State faces, in housing and the provision of healthcare, this Government has not only failed but failed miserably. The next Taoiseach should have a mandate directly from the people, not from the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party only to be rubber-stamped by the Green Party and Fianna Fáil.

It is time for a general election because this is a defining moment. People right across this State are crying out for change. Fine Gael, we all know, have been in government for far too long, and changing its leader will change nothing. What we need is a change of approach. We need a change of approach in housing, healthcare and the support for workers and families in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. If the Tánaiste is confident of his record, why does he not put it to the people and let the people decide? What is he afraid of? Why does he not call for a general election now? Let us go toe to toe and see who comes out the better end.

Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta. Níl aon amhras orm ach go bhfuil muintir na tíre ag cur béime ar ghnáthchúrsaí an tsaoil. Níl muintir na tíre ag lorg olltoghcháin ag an bpointe seo. Tá siad ag lorg dul chun cinn ó thaobh cúrsaí tithíochta agus sláinte. Ní labhróimid faoin ngéarchéim aeráide agus a lán nithe eile.

The people of this country do not want a general election. I have been very committed since the last general election to a full, five-year term of government. That has always been my position. I believe that when a Dáil is elected, as the result of a general election, it should go full term. I recall the 1980s, when I was a young student, that there were three elections in 18 months. I recall a general election in 1987, which I contested, although I did not get elected, in 1989, two years later, and in 1992, three years after that. It led to short-term thinking, short-term political decisions and short-term legislation. It did not work. That is why I actually believe in the five-year term. This is a coalition of parties, not personalities. Ours was the most comprehensive programme for Government ever negotiated and it is the programme for Government, the policy, the substance that matters. Sinn Féin does not have that. It does not have a single policy anybody could credibly critique because it does not have one. It has no substance behind any of its initiatives.

A record 2.7 million people are at work in this economy. A total of 90,000 jobs have been added over the past year and 550,000 since this Government took office. Unemployment is at 4.2%. Inflation is down already by nearly two thirds. The proposal for the future Ireland fund, which is very significant legislation, was passed through Cabinet yesterday. We have work to do. We have to get that future fund Bill passed in this House, along with the infrastructure and climate fund Bill, which is part of it. We have to also get the planning Bill completed in this House. This is the bread-and-butter stuff that matters to people out there in the economy and in society. They do not want politicians endlessly speculating about elections. The Deputy has been calling for a general election since this Oireachtas started. He wants an election every year. I am more focused on the bread-and-butter issues that matter to people.

The Deputy talked about housing. A total of 32,000 new homes were built last year. The momentum has changed in respect of house building and it is our objective to keep that momentum going. Today, figures will be published by the Department of housing that will show there were more than 3,600 new commencements in February alone. That is 85% above the same time last year, when approximately 2,000 were commenced. That is progress. We need to do more than that and we will, but what we have seen in the past two years is very significant progress on house building. The Deputy will not acknowledge it because he is in opposition and cannot acknowledge any progress from the Government on anything. That is very significant, and we have other measures to take in the next month or two to keep the momentum going on housing. People in the construction industry need certainty, continuity and stability on fundamental issues of policy related to housing, and we are going to provide that.

The Deputy mentioned health. A total of 60% of the population are entitled to free GP care. Inpatient hospital charges have been abolished. There is free contraception for women, there are lower costs of medicines and annual spending is up 51%, or €8 billion, since the Government took office. There are 8,000 more nurses and midwives and 4,000 more health and social care professionals and the cost of childcare is half what it was. There are free schoolbooks for every student in primary and special schools and for students in the junior cycle. There are reduced costs of school transport, thousands more special education teachers and SNAs, and 1,300 new special classes and seven new special schools. That is a record that is significant and represents real progress, and my task and obligation, with the parties with which we signed up to the programme for Government, is to continue that to the end of term.

If the Tánaiste believes in that record, he should put it to the test and let the people decide, because I have nothing to fear from letting the people decide which vision they want - the leadership on this side of the House by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald or the leadership the Tánaiste he is offering, a leadership that ignored my points. He wants to continue the momentum on housing. We have the highest house prices, the highest rents, the highest levels of homelessness and the lowest levels of homeownership in the history of this State. He talks about progress on healthcare. As he is taking to his feet, countless people in accident and emergency services who have been admitted to our hospitals cannot access hospitals. That is the reality.

The Tánaiste is running scared, just as he did the last time he was in government. In 2010 - does he remember that? - I had to take the Government to the High Court, which found it guilty of breaching the constitutional rights of the people of Donegal by not having an election. The Tánaiste is running scared from the people. This Government's time is up. The Taoiseach has thrown in the towel. He has said he is not up for the job. No one in the Government is up for the job. The public need change; they do not need a rearranging of the deckchairs in this Government, a Government that is spectacularly failing. If the Tánaiste believes in everything he said, let the people decide, because we will go toe to toe with him in the morning.

The people will decide when the time for the election comes. We have up until March of next year; that is the programme of this Government. I have fought far more general elections than the Deputy has. I have never been afraid of an election. I have contested many of them, so the Deputy should not talk to me and lecture me about elections, please. I am interested in government and in the basic policy issues people want us to address. The people want us to address issues and deliver on them, which we are doing. Just last week, the Deputy's party acknowledged and thanked the Government for the shared island initiative and the huge funding in Northern Ireland. I thought the very partisan comments of Sinn Féin's First Minister yesterday in respect of the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, left a lot to be desired, given the glowing response a month ago to the Government's shared island initiative.

We have done more with respect to cross-Border development and investment in Northern Ireland than many a government for many a year. That was something Sinn Féin opposed initially, as a party. It jumped on the bandwagon quickly afterwards, which is normally what it does. The party is not ready for a general election.

We are.

No, it is not. It needs policies and it needs substance.

Bring it on.

Sinn Féin does not have substance and it does not have detail. It has bluster, bluster and bluster.

Bring it on.