We are now four weeks out from the most important local and European Union elections for a generation and housing is the number one talking point at the doors. It is the biggest issue by far for workers and families across the State. After 13 years of Fine Gael in government, the housing crisis has gone from bad to worse. Rip-off rents continue to rise, homelessness has hit record levels and an entire generation is locked out of home ownership due to the sky-high house prices. On the watch of Fine Gael Governments, housing affordability has been torn to shreds. A new report published by MyHome.ie shows that nearly half of people are postponing buying a new home due to the cost of living. The Government's failure to deliver the affordable homes needed to rent and buy is at the heart of the problem. It has missed its affordable housing targets in each of the years since its so-called housing plan started. In the past two years, not one affordable home to rent or buy was delivered by the Government in Dublin city. It is the same story for Galway, Kerry, Wexford, Donegal, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Sligo and Tipperary, and I could go on.

The Government is very big on promises but very short on delivery. To make matters worse, the homes delivered through what the Government considers affordable housing schemes have price tags far beyond what ordinary workers can afford. I will give the Taoiseach an example. A house in a scheme in Clonburris in Clondalkin, Dublin is €425,000. That is close to half a million euro. It seems that is what the Government considers to be affordable. I think it is off the wall. It is little wonder the Taoiseach refuses to say what he regards as an affordable home. If we are to go by these schemes, his answer is "Sky high". It is no better when it comes to the Government's scheme for affordable homes to rent. I will give the example of Citywest, where rents are close to €1,800 a month. I do not know in what world that is deemed affordable rent. This is, nonetheless, what renters are getting on a Government scheme. They are ripped off by landlords and ripped off by the Government. The whole thing beggars belief.

The repeated failures of the Taoiseach's Government and its broken promises on affordable housing have real consequences for real families. Young people are stuck at home with their parents, unable to strike out on their own. Today, just over one quarter of 25- to 34-year-old people own their own homes. This is down from 60% in 2004. Some 40% of people under the age of 34 still live in their family home. That statistic alone should be enough for this Government to pack its bags. Fine Gael claims to be the party of home ownership but the truth is that it has never been harder for people to buy their own home. That is a direct result of Government policy. Is í an tithíocht an cheist is mó sna toghcháin áitiúla agus Eorpacha. Tá glúin gan fáil acu ar thithe ar phraghas réasúnta mar gur theip ar an Rialtas iad a chur ar fáil. Tá sé in am don athrú.

In his speech to his party's Ard-Fheis, the Taoiseach said he would fix housing once and for all. All three taoisigh who have led this coalition Government have made the same promise, and each time things got worse. My question is simple. Why is the Government repeatedly breaking its promises and failing on affordable housing?

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what I agree is a really important issue regarding housing. From going across the country and engaging with young people and their parents, I know that home ownership can still feel out of the reach of many people. We are working day and night to change that. We are working every single day to make progress. I am very happy to report progress, because we are now building homes at levels not seen since 2008. Every single week in this country, 500 individuals or couples are buying their first home. As Deputy McDonald travels around the country, as I see she does, she must see those homes and meet those young people who have their first homes - homes that did not exist months or years ago that are now in place, with family lives starting in them.

Work on over 12,000 homes has started in the first quarter of this year alone. That figure is up 60% on the previous year. Over 12,000 homes were started in the first couple of months of 2024. We know many people who are renting want to buy as well so we are trying to put supports in place to help them with the cost of their rent. This is why we put a renter's tax credit in place. It made a difference, which is why we have kept it and increased it. It is why the three parties in government want to do even more to try to put a bit of money back into the pockets of renters so it can help them meet the rent and save for a deposit.

We have also put in place a number of schemes that I hope the Deputy will tell people she is against - the help-to-buy scheme, the first home scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant. These are all practical ways to help people. In fairness to the Deputy, she has very honestly committed to getting rid of every one of these schemes so I wonder what she would say to the tens of thousands of people - more, in fact - who have benefited from those schemes. I wonder what she would say to their parents, who watch their child leave the box room and buy a home because of the help of those schemes, and why she says that if she is Taoiseach next year, none of those schemes would be in place. We are already doing affordable homes. There are affordable homes are being offered throughout the country, for as low as €225,000 in Waterford, €255,000 in Kilkenny and €300,000 in Dublin when we apply the affordable purchase discount. Later this week, the Minister for housing will make a further announcement in Dublin Fingal with regard to more affordable homes.

Last year saw over 4,000 affordable homes delivered, up from 1,750 in the previous year. We are on track for around 6,000 this year. I know the Deputy believes that for her to succeed politically, she needs the country's housing policy to fail but, unfortunately, that is not the case. Every single metric, in terms of supply, schemes, targets and capacity, is making progress but we know we have much more to do.

The Deputy asked me why I would not give one specific figure as to what an affordable home was. I gave a very honest answer in that regard, which is that it depends on the type of home, the person's circumstances and what part of the country it is in. I would ask the Deputy, 139 days after she told the people of this country that she would provide homes for €300,000 in Dublin, how she intends to do that, because the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion that will be debated in this House is not that. The motion talks about leasehold affordable schemes, where people will not actually ever own their own home. Again, maybe that gives an insight into the ideology of Sinn Féin when it comes to housing policy. Also, the motion does not talk about Dublin. It says it depends on where in the country the house will be. Will the Deputy admit, 139 days later, that she made a mistake, that she misspoke and then doubled down with regard to promising young people something she has no intention of delivering? When will Sinn Féin publish its all-encompassing housing plan to rival Housing for All?

I mentioned a number of counties - Louth, Mayo, Sligo and Tipperary - and could have added Cavan, Leitrim, Offaly and Roscommon. These are the official figures. This is an official record of the Government's abysmal failure - the failure of the State to deliver affordable homes to purchase and rent. By the targets the Government set itself, it has failed. It is a big fail. I have never seen housing need so desperate and I happen to represent communities for whom a housing crisis is not a new crisis. Overcrowding and very poor living conditions have been experienced generation after generation but I have never seen anything as desperate as this.

What makes matters worse it seems is that we have a Government that is utterly delusional - either that or just deeply dishonest - because it is not delivering at pace and at scale the affordable homes young people in particular and families more generally need to buy.

I again ask the Taoiseach, what changes now? He said he is sorting this out. What change does he make now to begin the process of sorting it out?

It seems we will have to wait for day 140 to find out how the leader of Sinn Féin intends to deliver on her commitment given in The Irish Times that she would provide people in this capital city and county with homes for €300,000.

And less.

The Sinn Féin motion to be debated tonight does not do it. As for promising people leasehold, people do not want leasehold. People want to be able to go out and buy their own homes. That is what the people the Deputy, too, must be meeting across the country tell me as well. The people in the box rooms-----

What is the Taoiseach delivering? There is no use in him talking down the clock.

I will tell the Deputy what we are delivering now. The Deputy has a leader and she did well there, so allow me to respond. We have already delivered 4,000 affordable homes. We have 21 local authorities so far-----

The Government has not. I have the figures with me.

Not true.

-----and we are on track for more than 6,000 this year. I have shown the Deputies and, more important, the people at home, who do not want to see Sinn Féin playing politics with a crisis, how we are continuing to make progress. The Deputy asked how we are going to fix it. I will tell her how we will do it. We are going to deliver record supply this year. Already this year we have seen more than 12,000 homes commenced. Most people in this country welcome that, but it seems to upset the Deputy, and she has probably objected to a fair few. This year, 12,000 homes have already been commenced. That is a good thing. It is a 60% increase on the previous year. Surely the Deputies would welcome that. This, coupled with schemes Sinn Féin opposes that help people buy their own home, keeping them in place, increasing our houses targets as we go through the year, delivering more supply and increasing affordable home delivery, is how we make a real difference, not just coming in here identifying the problem and offering no real solutions beyond rhetoric.