When it comes to housing, can the Government get anything right? It has been planning these rental reforms for months and yet it made an absolute hames of them last week. Even the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues could not make sense of them. They were quoted in the media talking about not understanding the rules. For the avoidance of any doubt, there was one simple thing these reforms were to do, and that was to drive rents higher.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

That is because driving record rents even higher, according to the Government, is somehow going to bring rents down. Make that make sense. No wonder the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues are utterly bewildered.

The Taoiseach has claimed repeatedly that housing is the Government's biggest priority. Yet, when it comes to policy announcements, they are chaotic and sloppy. Even today, the Minister conceded that students and those on short-term rental contracts will not be protected from the rental reset, which is an absolute disgrace and it goes against what was said last week.

The Taoiseach also said the Government wants to extend the rent pressure zones across the country, but it did not even have the legislation ready last week to do so and he did not have the answers last week when he was asked in the Dáil about it. The truth is that the policy is a shambles and the Government is making it up as it goes along. It has no coherent plan and just one guiding principle, that is, to design a housing policy that extracts the maximum profit for investors.

The Land Development Agency was set up in 2018. Now, seven years later, the Government is finally talking about giving it greater compulsory purchase powers. The Social Democrats demanded this from the outset but successive governments preferred to have a toothless tiger, a Land Development Agency that was prevented from acquiring the land it needed. Once again, the Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing. It is completely unclear now whether these powers will be accompanied by a new budget. Perhaps the Taoiseach could clarify that in his response.

I am acutely aware that every time we discuss housing in this Chamber it feels hopeless and that is because we are usually discussing failed policies of the Government. It does not have to be like this. The problems we are facing now are because of the wrong political choices being made, but the Government can make the correct political choices. However, that will mean it will have to admit that what it was doing was not working and agree to a complete reset of policy where the Government prioritises people who want to own their homes and not investors. It is clear that not once was that mentioned. Of all those rental homes the Government is proposing will be developed, none will be able to be purchased to be someone's home.

I urge the Taoiseach to listen to the Opposition. We have concrete solutions.

Thank you, Deputy.

We offered the State savings scheme that would free up €160 billion, potentially, on deposit in Irish bank accounts.

Thank you, Deputy Whitmore.

I ask the Taoiseach to please take those suggestions on board.

I reject the use of language like "chaotic" and all that. It is a good sound bite, but that is all it is - a sound bite with no substance behind it. The bottom line is that the reforms announced last week will enhance protections. The Deputy says it will drive up rents. Every existing tenant will have their rent capped at 2%. There will be no increase. Does the Deputy acknowledge that? Not one of them has acknowledged that. No existing tenant will have their rent increased. We want new units built. Very few apartments have been built. We have a problem there and we need to attract private sector investment in to get the supply up. Any new tenancies post March 2026 or any new units built will be capped at the CPI. Tenure has increased dramatically in terms of protections - no-fault evictions essentially for almost all tenants, but particularly for those with four or more. These are significant protections over and above what was there before the reforms announced last week and yet they get the decried and attacked. Basically, it is as if rhetoric will win out in the end from the Opposition's perspective.

That is not true.

There is no real detailed teasing out of issues or discussion of issues in here on Leaders' Questions - it is get up and have a go. The Deputy mentioned the proposal around the SSIA, a savings and investments scheme. She must acknowledge that it would take some years before the necessary funds would be available. The State itself is investing hugely with about €6.8 billion in capital on housing in 2025 and that will probably rise. That is not counting the State investment on the current side with HAP and so on. The State investment in housing right now is well over €7 billion. We have the fourth largest construction activity in a European Union of 27 member states. There is a lot of activity in Ireland but we have had a growing economy in the last decade and very significant population growth. We have an issue in meeting the housing demand. That is a crisis for the younger generation. We acknowledge that. I am very focused and the Government is very determined and very focused. We are taking decisions every week on housing and will continue to take more and more decisions.

The LDA has made an impact. The Government from 2020 to 2025 gave it power and resources, and legislation. We are now giving additional roles to the LDA as it has built up capacity. However, we are not hanging around for CPIs - CPIs can take time. We need to hit the ground running in respect of any additional reforms that we have. We are absolutely determined to get to 50,000 per annum. Rent freezes will not do that.

Yes, the Government is taking decisions, but it is taking all the wrong decisions. That is the problem and that is what we are saying to it. It needs to completely rethink its policy and needs to start prioritising people who want to be homeowners, people who want to be able to afford the rent rather than the investors. That is the crux of the problem. The Government's policies are being directed by the investors. The Taoiseach spoke about never having a real opportunity to tease things out here. That is because every time he comes into this Chamber all he does is spend his time deflecting, gaslighting or blaming the Opposition when it is his responsibility to put in policies that meet the needs of our people. People are not being fooled because they are the ones who are living through this housing crisis. They are the ones who cannot afford rents. They are the ones who cannot afford their own home. They are the ones who are retired and are worried about whether they might be made homeless. Those people can see exactly what the Government is doing and failing to do. They will not forgive it for that.

The Government's focus has been on housing supply. The Government has dramatically increased the level of public sector investment. We had record numbers of social houses built in the last four years. One would need to go as far back as 1975 to get an equivalent level of social housing built.

That is because successive governments did nothing for 20 years.

We have built up to 36,000 social houses since.

There are record house prices and record homelessness.

We have also supported affordability.

They are €400,000 in our own constituency.

For example, the help to buy scheme and the first home scheme are significant supports for first-time buyers.

I know the main Opposition party, to which the other parties have all aligned, wanted to get rid of the first home scheme-----

-----and wanted to get rid of the help to buy scheme. It wants to get rid of those two schemes for first-time buyers. In addition, we have produced very significant grant support for people who want to renovate and live in a derelict house, for example, or in a vacant house. This is not investor led. This is people-led investment and support that we as a Government have introduced and will continue to support the younger people who are seeking to get a house, either to buy or to rent, at an affordable price.

We are talking about housing and targets. As Opposition Members have stated, the targets are not being reached. Let us not get into the semantics of whether they will be reached, because what will stop them being reached is infrastructure. We have a situation in Clonshaugh where planned housing is going to be delayed due to a lack of water services. In this context, it was interesting to listen to the ESRI chairman, Mr. Sean O'Driscoll, who is a member of the new infrastructure task force. Credit to the Government for setting this up. However, the fact that Mr. O'Driscoll came out on the record and spoke in a personal capacity shows a certain element of trepidation, at least on his behalf and possibly among other members. He addressed issues such as judicial reviews and planning delays. He said the bar for judicial reviews was far too low. He spoke about the need to extend the Part 8 planning permissions enjoyed by local councils and to tell the EU that Ireland had an infrastructure emergency to overcome regulation and red tape.

What I would like to focus on is the need to secure multi-annual funding for utilities and major projects. I am referring to water services, our national grid and some other areas. It was said was that tough, brave and exceptional decisions were needed. We need a commitment. The CEO of Uisce Éireann and the managing director of ESB Networks are on this task force but there is no sign that the required legislative changes are going to be agreed by the 1 July target. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has reportedly said that nothing is ruled in or out and everything is on the table. Can I get a commitment from the Taoiseach that, for the first time in the history of the State, we will have a proper structure of multi-annual funding? We see local councils with a three-year rolling capital programme. Why can we not set out a five-year rolling capital programme for infrastructural projects such as water and the grid?

I am digressing slightly, but we talk about AI technology. That will use a lot more energy when we have many more data storage companies coming in, and the income potential of that. We cannot have that and also have electricity supply and build houses. We have the potential to be a major energy exporter in terms of converted hydrogen and stored electricity, which also feeds into the housing situation. Will the Taoiseach commit that the Government will agree to set out a multi-annual funding structure, which will also give certainty to the training colleges in order to start recruiting the homegrown staff we need?

First of all, "Yes" is the answer. We will. Utilities need certainty. Utilities can be a great enabler of both housing and infrastructure. The national development plan will reflect the prioritisation of water in particular, expansion of the grid and public transport along with road infrastructure. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has established an infrastructure division within the Department of public expenditure and a team of sectoral experts has been seconded from key agencies to the division. That division is already focusing on the electricity, water and transport sectors. It is focused initially on the preparation of an evidence-based, systematic assessment of the barriers impeding timely infrastructure development. It is engaging with key stakeholders to identify those critical barriers. It has begun a public consultation, which was launched on 6 June. A stakeholder engagement event is scheduled for 18 June in Athlone. It will also examine what reforms have been successfully introduced in other jurisdictions that may be applicable in Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, will provide a report to the Government by the end of July on what have been identified as the most significant barriers slowing infrastructural development, and we will work on those.

I will say this, though, in terms of judicial reviews. I believe all planning should as far as humanly possible be decided on in the layers of planning institutions we have established - local authorities and An Bord Pleanála. Ultimately, planning should not be decided in the court but people are applying to the courts the length and breadth of the country. Governments cannot abolish the law. In the Planning Act, it was interesting. We did try to streamline the law and the whole area around judicial review. There was a lot of opposition in the House to it. People wanted to reduce the impact of the Planning Act that we took three years to get through this House. People were adamant that rights came before anything else in some quarters, in other words, the eternal question of the common good versus personal, individual rights. Given the population growth in this country, given the housing need in this country, I think the overall common good should triumph, given the situation we find ourselves in.

We have very good examples, by the way, of very good infrastructure that has been delivered on time and on budget, but we never hear of those projects because they are not newsworthy, really. When they get done on time and in budget, that is the end of it. No one really wants to talk about them. It is the ones that are over budget and behind time. Take the Shannon water scheme. The Government has approved that but there will be opposition. Public representatives have said they are going to oppose it. It is essential for the midlands, it is essential for Dublin, that we get that project through but there will be opposition.

To follow up on transport infrastructure, Mr. O'Driscoll mentioned, for example, the impact in terms of future jobs at Apple because of the road interlink and public transport links. It is a similar thing with Galway in terms of the ring road. As someone with a green background, I acknowledge the need for the ring road but obviously there is a need to put more investment into public transport alternatives in the first instance. This action plan is coming by 1 July, which means the Cabinet will be deciding, I hope by the recess, what the priorities are going to be for the next couple of years in respect of the task force. If multi-annual funding is not firmly on the table at that stage, we might as well say "Goodbye" to the whole thing and it will be, as Mr. O'Driscoll said, just another talking shop. I hope that, between the Minister, Deputy Chambers, the Taoiseach and the rest of Cabinet, multi-annual funding will be put firmly at the heart of this plan so we can get moving on what is required.

Absolutely, funding and reform. The funding will be made available through the national development plan. The issue will be whether we can get societal buy-in to a lot of the required infrastructure. That is the big issue. The Deputy mentioned the ring road in Galway. His former colleagues in the Green Party were very much against roads. That is just a fact; that is their political view. Even in government, it was problematic in terms of some road projects. Look at the Macroom-Ballyvourney bypass. The impact that has had environmentally and on road safety has been extraordinary in terms of the impact on the communities living in the various towns along there - it has been quite extraordinary - as well as improving connectivity and road safety.

Will the funding be multi-annual?

I think we have had too simplistic a debate on roads from those on the environmental pillar who see roads as just a total non-starter. We need better debate around these issues because they can also have beneficial environmental impacts.