Is é cúrsaí tithíochta príomhfhadhb na tíre seo. Is gá dúinn tithe maithe ar phraghas réasúnta a sholáthar do gach duine. Caithfear deireadh a chur le drochpholasaithe an Rialtais seo. Yesterday, the Government presented its quarterly Housing for All update. As always, the press conference appeared to be a smiley, happy occasion. However, the reality of this housing disaster for people on the sharp edge of the crisis is not optimistic. The homelessness figures for March are due to be released tomorrow, and doubtless there is going to be more bad news. Those looking to avail of schemes such as tenant in situ where they face eviction are becoming mired in paperwork and inactivity from local authorities. We are all hearing this. I appreciate that some work is being done and that bodies like the Land Development Agency are being better capitalised, but those agencies are still not delivering the homes people need. This Government is not delivering the homes people need.

Upon the lifting of the temporary eviction ban last year – a shameful decision – we heard many promises and commitments about new measures to keep people in their homes. There were lots of new policies, although they all fell short of a ban on no-fault evictions - a ban that should never have been lifted. Even still, the consolation prizes for people who are being deprived of security in their homes missed the mark. New promised laws, which would give statutory first refusal to tenants and local authorities where landlords decide to sell their properties, have still not been brought in. We had been led to believe that permanent schemes to help people facing eviction would be up and running by the start of this year, so there have been more delays.

Delay and a lack of ambition have characterised the approach to housing from the Department and the Government. The consequences are dire for so many. Yesterday, the Irish Council for Social Housing warned that older people and disabled people risk becoming an underclass due to a lack of appropriate social housing. We need more affordable homes. We need more social homes. We need greater ramping up of retrofitting and the Government needs to build. Under Housing for All, we will not see the level of building that is needed because the plan is fundamentally flawed. For months now, even the Government has accepted that its own targets are too low. We know that Housing for All is incapable of delivering the homes needed. We will be waiting until the autumn before we see higher targets being set. You would not train for a marathon by setting the ceiling of your ambition at a 5 km run. It is ridiculous to see such low targets remaining in place when even the Taoiseach has admitted that they are too low. None of us on the Labour benches believes in trickle-down politics, but the lack of urgency at the top of Government is trickling down. It is slowing down construction across the country, it is slowing down responses from local authorities to those facing eviction and it means that many people are still on the sharp end of this housing crisis. When will the Government accept that it is unacceptable to wait so long before we see publication of the higher targets? When will it accept there is far too little urgency or ambition on the delivery of housing and homes for people who need them?

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising what is the most pressing issue facing the Government. It is the key, number one priority that this Government has been working to deliver. We all wish that delivering in this regard could be dealt with as easily as setting a target.

It is the first step.

At its recent conference, the Labour Party set targets without providing any plan as to how they might be delivered.

We have plans.

That is just not true. It is a false statement.

The Government will continue to assess evolving needs in terms of medium- and long-term targets. There will be a full assessment in the context of updating those targets. What we are absolutely focused on is increasing delivery and capacity and making a real difference. We are not in any way taking the foot off the throttle in doing as much as possible regarding new housing supply. While the targets will be adjusted, we are going as fast as we can in ramping up delivery.

The Deputy mentioned the CSO dwellings completions for quarter 1 of 2024. This reflects the fact that this Government is making a real impact in increasing delivery. The challenge is that we would love to increase it more quickly, but we are delivering it as fast as we possibly can. We are taking any interventions we can take to increase supply. The Deputy will have seen from the results to which she referred that there were 5,841 new home completions in quarter 1 of this year. In addition, there were 33,000 new home completions in 2023. That was the highest number in 15 years and it exceeded the Housing for All strategy target of 29,000. Even though the target for last year was 29,000, by pushing as hard as we could we hit 33,000. New commencements this year are significantly up on what they would have been last year. We have also seen the highest level of annual completion since we started keeping records in 2011. That is a reflection of the effort and momentum the Government is seeking to build. Over the four years since the Government took office in 2020, 107,000 houses have been built. That is more houses than were built in the nine years before that. Through the social housing programme, more than 12,000 new homes were built last year. That represents the highest delivery for social housing since the mid-1970s. Again, that is a reflection of how the Government is putting in every resource and bringing every tool possible to the table in order to increase delivery as quickly as possible and bring supply into the system. This is what will deliver new homes for families and address the many challenges in the system.

I am glad the Minister says that housing is the key, number one, priority of the Government. However, we are certainly not seeing a sense of ambition and urgency when it comes to that priority. We are not seeing that trickle down into Government policies. The Minister can provide figures, but the key figure of 4,000 children in homelessness remains a shameful stain on the Government's record. I repeat that the Government has to set ambitious targets to speed up delivery of homes. That is true in any sphere, whether it is sport or housing construction. Every stakeholder in construction says that. The Government accuses Labour of not having a plan. We put forward a plan in a motion to this House in March this year, a motion the Government did not even oppose because it knows that more must be done to speed up delivery of homes. In the Seanad Chamber today, councillors from different parties are debating. They will all point out the lack of ambition and urgency at local and national levels on the delivery of homes. We need to see more ambition and urgency from Government and it is not good enough to say it is delaying the publication of the increased housing targets until the autumn. When will those targets be published and why the delay?

I assure Deputy Bacik that we are not delaying anything when it comes to delivering and building new houses.

They are delaying the target.

I have just outlined that the target for last year was 29,000 and that we exceeded it and reached 33,000. Our ambition this year is to also exceed the targets in place and build as many houses as possible. No house that can be built will be left unbuilt. We want to see more homes as well as more homeowners and more availability in the rental sector. All of the issues, in particular homelessness, will be addressed by more supply. This Government has massively ramped that up in every way possible. We have also put tools in place to support the development of houses and for people to purchase homes. I refer, for example, to the €30,000 available to get a deposit under the first homes schemes and the help-to-buy scheme under which we are helping homeowners with up to 30% shared ownership.

Along with that, there is a grant of €70,000 for derelict homes.

Time is up

We put that-in place to create a new source of supply. It applies to homes that have been out of circulation for the past few years.