Before I begin, I send my support and the support of my party to young Cara Darmody, who has begun her 50-hour sit-out protest to demand timely assessments of need are delivered. It is shameful that a young woman has to do this over and over again but we are deeply inspired by her.

Tá físeán a bhí curtha in airde ag an Roinn tithíochta ar na meáin shóisialta tar éis fearg millteanach a chruthú. Déanann an físeán iarracht dallamullóg a chur ar dhaoine maidir le freagracht an Rialtais as polasaí tithíochta atá tar éis an oiread sin daoine óga a bhrú le filleadh ar ais le cónaí sa bhaile lena dtuismitheoirí. Demeaning, hurtful, insulting and a two-fingered salute to an entire generation - these are the words people are using to describe the decision by the Minister's Government to share a video advising people how to cope with moving back into the family home. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are forced to move back in with their parents. I know SpunOut helped with this video. It is a very good organisation that does great work. It is no reflection on it or the young people in the video but it should not be left to a youth organisation to clean up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's mess.

Hear, hear.

The decision by this Government to share the video has caused fierce anger. The video suggests that those forced to move back in with their parents should help around the house so they will be viewed as adults. God almighty, how patronising is that?

Did anybody in the Government look at this video before it was shared on the official platforms by the Department of housing? Did anybody think about how people would react? Two weeks ago, I stood here on Leader's Questions and I raised the case of a young couple forced to move back into their parents' house. They were forced to do that because they could not afford the rent any longer. That couple are now planning to head to Australia. Last night, I was thinking about them and the hurt they would feel after seeing this video. However, they are not alone. The hard reality is that two thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds are still living with their parents. The number of young people forced to live with their family is increasing at a faster rate than in any other country in Europe. Why? Under the Minister's Government, home ownership has collapsed for an entire generation.

We see it all again today in black and white in the report from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. A total of 80% cannot afford to rent an average apartment built this year. Is it any wonder so many people do not see a future here? The Government's policies are forcing them to choose between moving back into the box room or leaving Ireland for the opportunity of a better life in Australia or Canada. These are the choices they have to make when they should be here, building a future, starting relationships and starting families. Instead, their lives are being put on hold.

If this Government gave a damn about our young people, what it would be doing is bringing action forward to bring home ownership back into reach and get runaway rents under control. What is the Government doing? Instead, it is doing the opposite. It chooses to make things even worse. It is going to push ahead with legislation that will see young people hit with big rent increases come next March.

What I want to say to young people out there and those watching today is that we are going to keep fighting for them here. Sinn Féin will keep fighting for them. We will have their back to make things better and ensure they can build a good future and an affordable life here in Ireland.

I will ask the Minister the question many young people have asked me in the last number of hours: does he see why young people are offended and hurt by the Government sharing this video? Does he accept that it is wrong for this Government to make young people feel that they are somehow at fault for its housing crisis?

In the first instance, this video and the information campaign are not a direct Department of housing campaign. As the Deputy said himself, it is something that has been developed by SpunOut, Ireland's youth information and support platform, and the Housing Agency, who ran this campaign. It was developed by young people and it is based on their experiences.

Like all of us in this House, I recognise the need to do everything we can to improve the availability and delivery of social and affordable homes right across our country. It has been the single biggest issue in our review of the national development plan. It has been our focus in terms of infrastructure. We are enabling infrastructure in energy, water and transport to ramp up the delivery of social and affordable homes. To look at the delivery the Minister, Deputy Browne, has advanced, completions for the first three quarters of 2025 are the highest since 2008. Housing supply has increased significantly over the last five years, with over 158,000 new homes delivered since the beginning of 2020. Rent pressure zones have been extended nationwide, capping increases at 2%. Cost-rental tenancies have been introduced, offering secure rents at least 25% below the market rent. We have extended the rent tax credit to 2028. We have increased the provision of social housing, with nearly 16,000 new homes delivered in 2023-2024, the highest number since the 1970s. As a Government, we are stepping up when it comes to State intervention on the provision of housing across the economy.

I accept that for many young people, rents are still too expensive in our cities and towns and across the country. That is why the intervention from the State is centrally important. Similarly, when it comes to housing supply, we have stood up to the needs in terms of the provision of social housing in our economy. We have extended the first home scheme and the help to buy scheme to help the affordability when it comes to the provision of homes across our country. We want to do everything possible, in terms of the State's role, to support that increased supply of homes right across our country. That is why in the budget we took tax measures to improve the viability of apartments and other interventions when it came to the reduction of VAT on apartments from 13.5% to 9%. That will strengthen the viability of housing supply across the country.

Everyone on this side of the House is absolutely fully aware of the need to do more when it comes to the delivery of social and affordable homes. That is reflected fully in our national development plan. It is reflected in the extension of many of the schemes, subsidies and supports-----

It is taking a while to build them.

-----which will improve the supply of social and affordable homes. We want to do more across our country with the local authorities to zone more land to ensure that housing supply increases. That is the number one issue for the Government. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has taken a number of interventions over the last number of months with regard to the rental market, taxation decisions and the new housing plan, all to deliver increased housing supply so that people can own and buy their own home here.

In respect of Sinn Féin's policies, it rejects the help to buy scheme which has helped thousands of young couples. It has some made-up policy on affordable homes where the people do not actually own the land underneath the homes they want to own. Sinn Féin’s policies on housing would undermine housing supply and, again, the viability gap is something it continuously ignores. Sinn Féin rejected the reduction of VAT on apartments which is critical to improve the supply of apartments, particularly in our cities. This Government will continue to do everything in terms of our policy response to ensure we build more social and affordable homes-----

The Government is helping developers with €100,000 per apartment.

------and increase and make viable the overall provision of homes over the next number of months and years.

The Minister is not listening and he is not hearing. He does not understand what it feels like for people in their 20s, 30s or even 40s who have been forced to move back into their parents’ house and are now living in the box room when the Department of housing shares a video saying that maybe they should do the dishes when they are at home so they will be seen as an adult.

Can the Minister understand how hurtful that is or the lack of hope that is out there? When I was in my 20s I was married, I built my house and I had my first two children. There is an entire generation out there whose lives are on hold or, worse still, an entire generation out there who are no longer here because they have lost hope. They have lost hope under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael because they see that house prices are runaway prices, they see what the Government is doing with rents and that it is going to push them up further, and they see that home ownership has collapsed. They have given up. Does the Minister, Deputy Chambers, accept that the Department of housing releasing that video, sharing that video, was hurtful to so many people who, under the Government's policies, have been forced to move back into their parents' box room?

The Deputy is misrepresenting how that video was made and created. It was made by SpunOut, a youth organisation. It was not-----

I did not say the Department made it.

That particular video was not something that was made by the Department of housing.

Deputy Doherty did not say the Department made it; he said it shared it.

It is business as usual.

It was made by SpunOut, a youth organisation in the State and I just want to be clear on that. I am absolutely clear that I want to ensure young people build a future here and have a future with well paid jobs-----

And do the dishes and all that.

-----and with more social and affordable homes built right across our country. I want to do that by managing the economy in a way that ensures they have a future here into the long term, something the Deputy just takes for granted every time he gets up and down when it comes to finance issues. My message is absolutely clear. We want them to build a future here and our commitment is there in the national development plan, with nearly €50 billion, between Exchequer and non-Exchequer funds, across all the enabling infrastructure and subsidy for housing support. This is a central priority that we made in the new national development plan so people can build a future in this country. This is why we want to ramp up housing supply with the other interventions that we have made.