I thank all of those across the House who supported Labour's important motion on Gaza today and I thank the Government for not opposing it. I look forward to working with the Government and the Opposition to bring about an end to the suffering and genocide being perpetrated upon the people of Gaza. Ireland has shown leadership but we can do more. We want to work constructively and collectively to do so.

I will raise the issue of housing with the Taoiseach. This Friday, the latest homelessness figures will be published but the Taoiseach's Government is already presiding over a shameful record. There are currently 15,378 people, including 4,675 children, in homelessness. Each number reflects a personal tragedy and a State failure. Evictions from the private sector are driving increased numbers. More homes are urgently needed to address this housing and homelessness crisis but, under the Government's watch, house-building commencements are not rising but falling, no-fault evictions are continuing and, worse again, the Government is gutting the tenant in situ scheme, sowing uncertainty about its future. This scheme was supposed to save families from an eviction cliff edge. Applications to the scheme are mired in bureaucracy. It is soul-destroying for people because they know that most of them are doomed to fail. This is true across the country. For example, in the Limerick City and County Council area, more than 107 tenant in situ cases are now on hold. I understand from my colleague Deputy Conor Sheehan that only 20 to 25 such cases, which is a drop in the ocean, are likely to be completed this year. Desperate people are applying when facing eviction, wasting precious time that could be spent searching for somewhere else to live. That policy failure has consequences. Every time we stand in this House, we must recall that the policies we discuss do not exist in a vacuum. They impact real people, our constituents, neighbours and friends.

I will refer to a letter Deputy Conor Sheehan has shared from a constituent of his. She is a healthcare worker and mother of three. She and her family have lived in their home for nearly 20 years but they are renters and received an eviction notice last year. For months, she attempted to secure her family's future by applying to the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme but the Housing Agency dropped her case just weeks ago. She is ineligible for social housing, the housing assistance payment or the local authority home loan. She cannot apply for the first-time buyer's scheme or the fresh start scheme. She cannot overhold because a criminal conviction would ruin her career. In her heart-breaking letter, she said:

I am still just 2 weeks away from homelessness [...] Everybody has been very kind [...] but nobody is coming back to me with any answers or hope for me and my family. I don’t know what to do.

There are many other families like this who face a cliff edge the Taoiseach promised they would not see. It is an indictment of Government policy. It is in cases like this that the tenant in situ scheme should apply. The Government has been in office for five months and the Taoiseach and his new Minister for housing have done nothing to address the crisis facing this family and others. What will the Taoiseach do for those now facing eviction?

The key issue in housing is supply. Everything the Government is doing is and will be focused on increasing the supply of houses right across the board. This includes an increased number of social houses. In the last four years, a record 48,000 social houses have been provided. Not since 2008 has that level of new-build social housing been provided. In addition, we brought in the tenant in situ scheme. Only two months ago, the Minister for housing secured an additional €325 million for that scheme to be used in cases such as that the Deputy has raised. Local authorities are saying they need more funding in addition to that. That is the context of record State funding for the housing issue. There can be no doubt about that. The Minister for housing is engaging with local authorities on specific issues they have raised. In some cases, it is the Minister's contention that cases can be resolved with the funding that has been allocated. He is also engaging with the local authorities on some specific issues they have with regard to acquisitions more broadly.

The scheme was reformed to target it more towards people in arrears who are in immediate danger of becoming homeless rather than general acquisition. We want the focus and priority to be building more social houses. Some local authorities are better than others at building social houses enthusiastically and proactively. We cannot lose the balance in moving towards more acquisition. That was criticised in this House some years ago as regards the leasing of housing for social housing purposes. We still lease some in addition to the new builds. We also acquire others, particularly in the context of the tenant in situ scheme, which has now been in operation for two and a half to three years. It has been very effective and impactful although, in our view, some of the funding was not used in a targeted way or in the way that was originally intended. We will continue to work with the local authorities in respect of the tenant in situ scheme.

Meanwhile, we are also working with approved housing bodies in addition to local authorities to get more social houses built. We are also working with homelessness organisations to get more provided for people who are homeless through the housing first agenda. The homelessness issue is much more complex than it was three or four years ago. Other factors are beginning to play into it.

Of course, the answer is supply. We all acknowledge that but the issue is that the Government is not doing anything to bring forward supply or to increase the delivery of homes. I watched the Minister for housing give an interview last night. I heard no new ideas to address the situation facing the family I have described, a family who are in the same situation as far too many others. They are facing eviction and a cliff edge and no State support is available to them. They certainly have no housing or alternative place to live available to them in the private sector because of the lack of supply. The Taoiseach spoke about the reform of the tenant in situ scheme but it is not working. I have outlined the figures from Limerick, which are stark. They are replicated across the country. We are all hearing from people who should be able to avail of the tenant in situ scheme but cannot. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach or any of his Ministers to blame local authorities or to say that the funding is there. Central government has not shown the will to address the housing and homelessness crisis. There are families at the sharp edge who are feeling that now and the Taoiseach is doing nothing for them.

Last year, approximately 1,500 houses were acquired in tenant in situ situations. This scheme has only been in place for a very short period of time. There has been a very rapid expansion of the scheme. I am not criticising local authorities. Many availed of the scheme and pushed forward with its delivery.

We saw a record number of new social homes constructed in 2023, as well as local authority and AHB relets, which are happening every single week. There is a range of options for local authorities in respect of specific tenants or tenants in arrears. The Minister will continue to engage with local authorities specifically on the tenant in situ scheme and acquisitions more generally. We want to move the balance to building more social houses in the medium term but we acknowledge that, in the interim, the tenant in situ scheme continues and funding has been allocated.