On behalf of People Before Profit, I extend my solidarity and support to the families of the 48 who never came home from the Artane fire in 1981. I hope that today is the day they finally get the truth and justice they deserve after their 40-year long struggle.

Next Tuesday at 5.30 p.m. outside the Dáil, the Raise the Roof campaign will hold a major rally demanding secure and affordable housing for all. The coalition of trade unions, housing groups, political parties and student unions will put forward a motion in Private Members' time on the same day calling for the Government to acknowledge its failure to address the unprecedented housing and homelessness crisis and demanding that it finally deliver the social and affordable housing we need, control rents to put them in line with the incomes of ordinary workers, deal with the scandal of vacant and derelict property, reinstate the no-fault fiction ban and deliver genuine affordability, which would give ordinary young and working people some hope of getting a secure and affordable roof over their head. The rally comes on the back of this Government's utter failure to deliver secure and affordable housing for working people and a whole generation of young people, meet even its own completely inadequate affordable housing targets, which it missed by 1,191, and meet its social and affordable housing targets.

In Dublin, the average house price has now reached €511,000 and the average monthly rent has reached €2,344 in the private sector. The latest Central Statistics Office figures show that in the past 12 months those already unaffordable house prices have gone up by another 6% and those already unaffordable rents have gone up by 10%.

The Government says that we do not offer solutions but the solutions it is proposing are going to make matters worse. It plans to extend a suspension of development levies to throw another €300 million at the developers who are delivering completely unaffordable housing and completely unaffordable rents. In contrast, on Committee Stage of the Planning Development Bill 2023 yesterday, we proposed an amendment to increase the amount of social and affordable housing from 20% to 50% but the Government rejected it. It also rejects the proposals being put forward by the Raise the Roof campaign, housing groups, ICTU and many of the Opposition political parties. What does the Tánaiste have to say to those who will gather outside the Dáil next week to protest at the Government's failure to deliver the social and affordable housing the people of this country so desperately need?

As I said earlier, housing is the most important issue facing this country and our people. We have to focus on policies that will increase the number of houses we can build every year. This will also increase the number of houses that are available to the rental market. What the Deputy has put forward would, I suggest, depress the number of houses available to the rental market and lead to a decrease in the supply of houses more generally. For example, the Deputy is against the waiver of development levies. The commencement data, which is out today, indicates that there were about 4,900 housing starts in March, which is an increase of 51% on March of last year. If the Deputy's policies were implemented, we would not achieve that figure next year or the year after that. We would not see increases in housing starts. The Deputy's proposals for the proportion of social housing in developments would also depress supply, whether he likes it or not.

Perhaps Deputy Boyd Barrett believes in a full State intervention approach. In my view, the capacity does not exist. What I mean is that the Deputy does not believe in any private sector housing really. It is fair enough if that is his position. He would probably have direct labour and a direct State and national building agency, with the State building every house in the country. It would take some time to get that up and running and, meanwhile, we would have people fleeing the market. I genuinely believe that what the Deputy is proposing would be catastrophic for the housing market and for young people trying to buy houses.

In total, 12,000 social homes were delivered in 2023. That is the highest figure since 1975. Of those, 8,100 were built and the rest were acquired for tenants in situ and so on There are about 22,500 more social homes, either on site or at design and tender stage. Mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers reached a new peak, at about 26,000, in 2023. That is the highest annual level since 2007. We are improving affordability for younger people to be in the position to buy houses. Last year, 33,000 houses were completed. We hope to exceed the target we set for this year and already the signs are that we will do so.

On cost-rental and affordable purchase housing, some 6,000 affordable homes had been delivered in quarter 4 of 2023, which is double what had been produced prior to that.

On dereliction, I do not know whether the Deputy supports the grant-based scheme we have introduced. It provides €70,000 and other supports for a young couple or individual to bring a derelict house back into use.

All those statistics are cold comfort to Amy and her husband, who were in my office this week. Amy is out of work on illness benefit at the moment and her husband is a bus driver. Their net income after tax is €48,000. They are facing homelessness because of an eviction on grounds of sale. The only accommodation available costs €3,000 in rent per month. Because they are over the social housing income threshold, they are not entitled to social housing. If they end up homeless, they will not even be able to get HAP. In order to pay a rent of €3,000 per month, which is all that is available, they will have to spend 75% of their income on rent, which is impossible. What does the Tánaiste have to say to Amy and her husband, a bus driver, who are facing the prospect of homelessness? I think they will say that they need to be out on the streets next Tuesday on the Raise the Roof demonstration along with many others. What does the Tánaiste have to say to Niamh and Anthony and their children, who spent their second Christmas in a homeless hub in my area? I could go on through the list.

The Government's reliance on private developers and speculators to deliver affordable housing is failing. The rents and house prices are going up and the Government still wants to throw money at them. What we need are controls on rents and house prices and for the State to deliver social and affordable housing at scale.

What I would say to Amy and her husband and Niamh and Anthony is that the Deputy's proposals would make the situation catastrophically worse.

It could not be worse than it is.

It would be much worse.

They are homeless.

People would leave the rental market immediately because the Deputy's party is all about control, to the extent that there would be nobody left in the rental market by the time it was finished. They just will not be there. It is evident in terms of the policies. About 4,000 affordable homes were delivered in 2020. That is double. A total of 12,000 social houses were delivered last year. We are being realistic and honest with people. I am not going to create some sort of fairytale and say there is a wonderful world awaiting us if only People Before Profit was in government and that we would then have-----

They have spent two Christmases in a hub with their family.

The Deputy's proposals will not sort that out. That is my point.

Build houses.

They would make it much worse. The Deputy should be more honest about how he articulates his model but he never does that because it does not suit him politically to do so.

It is the Raise the Roof model. The Tánaiste will see it outside on the streets next Tuesday.

Exactly. That is where the Deputy wants to be. He is not really interested in going through the bricks and mortar of getting houses built. That is not his interest. It is electoral-----

Did the Tánaiste read the ICTU plan?

He wants to fill the pockets of his friends. Fianna Fáil wants more money for developers.

That is the old line.

Giving €300 million to developers while 4,000 children are homeless, that is what he is interested in. Fianna Fáil is in the pockets of those who were in the Galway tent. It pretends to build houses and puts money into the pockets of developers. That is all it is interested in.

We are interested in getting houses built unlike the Deputy. We need more honesty from him. Tell the people what he really believes in.

I will. I believe in rent controls and building public homes on public land. Do not fill the pockets of developers.

That would stop housing development after housing development in Dublin.

The Government is responsible for the housing crisis - housing crisis after housing crisis.

If the Deputy is going to protest outside on Tuesday, protest outside but can we have a bit of order in here?

Protesting in here certainly does not work.