I join others in expressing condolences on the death of Brother Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre. I had the pleasure of meeting Brother Kevin, witnessing the immense work that he and his colleagues were doing and experiencing his great sense of humour. He will be sadly missed.

When the idea of a housing tsar was announced some months ago, the question on everyone's lips was the same: what can a tsar possible do for housing that the Minister cannot achieve? The bizarre tsar proposal appears to have been quietly shelved. It has joined a pile of other U-turns on the cutting room floor of Government Buildings and the Custom House. It has become increasingly clear that the Minister cannot take the necessary action alone and needs help. Nearly six months since taking office and in the midst of a severe housing crisis, he has nothing to show for himself other than two Bills. One is to undo the hames he made of those deeply misguided plans to end the rent pressure laws. The other, to be taken next week, is a Bill to amend the huge new planning Act that itself is mostly not yet in force. It is worse than a mere failure to ensure the necessary radical reset. The Government is allowing existing safeguards to fail. It may now have extended rent pressure zones, but it has hollowed them out so that the protections are limited. Rents and evictions will go up.

Speaking of evictions, the Government is starving the tenant in situ scheme so that it has become ineffective. That scheme was the key measure designed to protect renters and keep families out of homelessness. Last Friday, the homelessness figures told of an appalling new record. Some 15,747 people were in emergency accommodation, including 4,844 children, each one a personal tragedy for that child and family. One would think that in the face of this, the Government would ramp up the tenant in situ scheme, but instead it is depriving it of adequate funding and the scheme is failing. We hear it is being curtailed or paused in Dublin, Cork city, Kildare and elsewhere. The Minister has said it will be very difficult to avoid crossing the shameful threshold of 5,000 children in homelessness.

We would think he is a commentator and not the line Minister overseeing an apparent winding down of the tenant in situ scheme and harebrained changes to rent pressure zone laws. All of this has consequences. In 2024, the tenant in situ scheme accounted for two in five homeless preventions in Cork city alone. This meant 100 children were kept out of homelessness. What will happen to families like those now? Increasingly, our TDs and councillors are experiencing hopelessness and despair when they are seeking to advise families facing evictions because there is nothing we can offer. When are we going to see a radical reset from the Government? When are we going to see emergency measures to keep the tenant in situ scheme working and ensure families are kept out of homelessness?

Hear, hear.

I absolutely reject what Deputy Bacik set out there concerning the Minister, Deputy Browne. If we look at the series of actions and reforms he has undertaken in recent weeks, I think a significant difference will be made in driving housing supply, private and public, in our economy. He has reformed and streamlined the approval process for new-build social housing projects this week, making a real difference in respect of streamlining the process to try to drive the approvals for social housing across our economy. He has brought through significant reforms and an expansion of the remit of the Land Development Agency, which is to drive the supply of social and affordable housing right across Ireland. He has established An Coimisiún Pleanála, three-year planning permission extensions are being made in certain cases and he has revised the national planning framework to ensure we have more zoned land to try to increase the supply of homes across our economy. The heads of the Bill on reforming short-term lettings has been agreed. This will help to release thousands of units for long-term use. He has also extended the first homes scheme to 2027, agreed the new housing activation office to try to co-ordinate the supply of homes across local authorities and secured €750 million in additional funding for more social, affordable and cost-rental homes, alongside a significant programme of acquisitions. Therefore, I absolutely reject what the Deputy said relating to the series of measures that the Minister, Deputy Browne, has taken and that will cumulatively make a difference in driving the supply of housing across our economy.

In terms of the issue of homelessness, all of us in government are disappointed by the increase in the figures we have seen, but we know that the real solution to trying to reduce homelessness is to increase the supply of social and affordable homes. It is in this context that there has been a concentrated effort on preventions and exits. This has been reflected in the figures from quarter 1 of 2025. Nationwide, 642 households, including 850 adults and 369 families, were prevented from entering emergency accommodation by way of a tenancy being created, for example, in quarter 1.

Turning to the question regarding the tenant in situ scheme, one of the first measures we took as a Government was to provide €325 million in 2025 for local authorities to buy second-hand properties, with a particular focus on tenant in situ acquisitions. This is an important part of the overall allocation for 2025. Separately, I am working with the Minister, Deputy Browne, on the national development plan. Central to that will be a focus on housing supply in our economy. It will not only be concerned with providing direct subsidies for housing, but also with how we can invest in our water and wastewater infrastructure, in our grid and in our transport infrastructure to drive the overall supply of homes.

I thank the Minister. He can come back in. I call Deputy Bacik.

If we look at the series of reforms the Minister has taken, it will make a difference.

The Government seems to be content to express disappointment and say that the measures it is taking will have an effect. The reality for people across the country facing eviction is that there is no hope and no lifeline. The Minister said that increasing supply was the key priority. Of course it should be; that is right. Instead of seeing a ramping up of construction activity, though, we have seen delays and pauses in the building of social homes. In the last week alone, we have seen further delays announced. We have seen the filleting of the tenant in situ scheme. Councils, including Cork City Council, are telling us that they are curtailing the scheme, which was supposed to offer a lifeline for families facing homelessness to keep them out of homelessness. Far from energy, what we are seeing from the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the wider Government is inertia,-----

Lethargy.

-----a failure to act, a lethargy that leaves people in despair. People are telling us they have no hope of any prospect of owning-----

I thank the Deputy. I call the Minister to respond.

-----or even of being able to rent their own homes because there is so little out there. What is the Government offering now to people facing eviction?

I thank the Deputy, but she is over time. I call the Minister to respond.

I have referenced a series of actions being taken,-----

No-----

Raising rents.

-----including the strengthening of the Land Development Agency, continuing to support the increased supply of social and affordable homes-----

-----and the measures the Minister, Deputy Browne, has taken to cut through some of the bureaucracy that exists around the four-stage approval process and reform that. He has taken a series of measures that will increase the supply of social and affordable homes.

When?

Central to the new national development plan will be an increased allocation that is all focused on housing. Our central and number one focus as a Government is driving the supply of thousands of new homes right across our country, but this requires reforming how systems operate. The Deputy is just asking for additional allocations, but we need to change some of the systems that are currently-----

We talked about them.

Well, credit has not been given to the Minister, Deputy Browne, for some of the measures he has taken in recent weeks that will make a difference in the context of social and affordable homes.

They will make matters worse.

Please, Deputies.

On the tenant in situ scheme, we have provided an additional €325 million in 2025 for local authorities to buy second-hand homes.

Time is up.

This will make a difference to families facing homelessness.