The housing crisis is not just an urban crisis. It is also tearing out the very heart of rural Ireland. Young people are being priced out or locked out. They are being pushed into the larger towns or cities or, more often than not, they are being pushed abroad. GAA clubs and county boards are raising the alarm on this. Some are now appointing demographic officers to deal with rural youth depopulation. This week in my role as Sinn Féin spokesperson on rural affairs, I will be meeting with GAA president, Jarlath Burns, to discuss the very real impact on clubs, parishes and communities across the State.

The national planning framework that the Government pushed through the House actively promotes urban concentration at the expense of rural Ireland, deepening pressure on cities and depopulating the rest. The Our Rural Future strategy is silent on housing. It barely mentions it; there is only superficial mention. There is no ambition. There are no plans and no delivery. Virtually no affordable housing has been delivered in rural areas. In many towns and villages, no social home has been built in 30 years.

Thank you, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

Local authority CEOs are telling the Government that the affordable serviced sites scheme is not working.

Time is up, Deputy.

As Head of Government, when will the Taoiseach acknowledge his housing policy is failing rural communities?

The Taoiseach to respond.

First, more generally, the Minister for rural affairs will be meeting the Gaelic Athletic Association in respect of the new rural future design programme. The GAA is having a huge impact the length and breadth of the country on many fronts.

On the housing front, it is not fair to say that there is no focus on housing in rural Ireland. There is. The derelict grants and the vacant grants have been particularly used in rural Ireland to great effect. I have seen places myself. It was because I was walking through rural Ireland that I said to Darragh O'Brien in the last Government that we needed to develop such a derelict grant scheme, and it is having an impact. One can see it now in towns where houses have been refurbished and families have gone in to live in them.

On the bigger issue, depending on different areas, I do not think there are any applications from rural Waterford in terms of affordable housing schemes, but the more general help to buy scheme-----

Time is up, Taoiseach.

All of those apply to rural Ireland. The first homes scheme applies to rural Ireland.

The issue is that local authority managers are saying it is not suitable or appropriate.

Deputy, it is not a back and forth.