Today, the Government is using the guillotine to ram through legislation that will have one overriding result, that is, allowing record rents rip even further. Once this legislation goes through, it will mean monthly rents for new tenancies being reset to market rates. People watching at home might not know what that means because the phrase "market rate" does not capture what is really going on here. People will see monthly rents for new tenancies soaring to €2,500 to €3,000 all over the country. That is €30,000 or more every year in after-tax income that renters will be expected to pay. What nurse, teacher, garda or retail worker can afford that? What will happen to our critical public services when staff cannot afford their rents? What will happen to our cities and our towns when people are priced out of them? Why would young people stay here through their 20s and 30s just to hand over all of their income to a landlord? What kind of a life is that? How many more children are going to become homeless because of this legislation today?

I welcome some aspects of the legislation. The Social Democrats have fought for a long time for improved security for renters and for a rent price register. However, the impact of some positive reforms is going to be completely swallowed up by the impact of what the Government is doing on rent prices because people are already struggling to pay record rents. More and more of them are being forced to move back in with their parents or to sleep on friends' couches and record numbers are becoming homeless. This is not just a housing disaster; it is a social catastrophe.

The Social Democrats would do things differently. Just last week, we published detailed plans explaining how we would set up a State construction company and acquire four modular home factories to turbocharge the delivery of social and affordable homes. We have also published plans to set up a new State savings scheme to use just some of the nearly €170 billion sitting in Irish deposit accounts, and earning almost no interest, to build the homes we so desperately need. This could be a real national effort to finally address this crisis that hundreds and thousands of us could be a part of. There are solutions to this housing disaster. There is another way. The Government could finally admit that its approach is not working. It could change course and direction.

What the Government is doing is a betrayal because these plans did not feature in the Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael general election manifestos or in the programme for Government. The coalition parties misled the public on housing figures to get back into power, and then quickly went back to making policies that mainly protect-----

The Deputy will be back in. The Taoiseach to respond.

-----developers and investment funds. It is not too late to step back from the brink, abandon plans to jack up rents and finally protect renters.

First of all, ní aontaím leis an Teachta. Is éard atá i gceist ag an Rialtas ná i bhfad níos mó tacaíochta agus cosanta a thabhairt do na daoine atá ag íoc cíosa faoi láthair. Sin bun agus barr an chinnidh atá déanta ag an Rialtas. I do not agree, fundamentally, with the Deputy. Again, this is being portrayed as the Government wanting to undermine renters. That is such a ridiculous assertion. The origins of this come from the Housing Commission. The Social Democrats' housing spokesperson spent about a year and half condemning the previous Government and this Government for not following through on the Housing Commission. The Housing Commission recommended that we permanently reform the RPZs. The Housing Agency came forward with recommendations to do that. The ESRI said we have to do it. Most economists agree we have to do it. Why? We have to get more supply into the rental market. If we do not, prices will continue to rise. The only effective way to moderate pricing in the rental market is to increase supply. The Government is biting the bullet and taking action here. Some would say it was too modest in terms of the supply side. The Opposition is dead set against any supply measures. It just wants the banning of rent increases. Just ban everything. Everything would then remain static. Prices would increase even more and we would have huge issues with supply. That is the fundamental difference between the Opposition and the Government. We want to sort out the housing issue.

Oh my God. Oh my good God.

We want to deal with it and we want to take this issue on. I have read and looked at the Social Democrats' policy proposals-----

This is a disgrace.

-----on a State construction company, which is about social housing, I think they would acknowledge, and would take a minimum of two years to establish. We already have the Land Development Agency, which is doing social housing and affordable housing and will also be doing private housing and doing that mix. The Social Democrats want to create a new agency on top of that just to do social housing, to have direct labour, which I think will be very problematic and challenging in the construction labour market we have in the modern era and I am not so sure it is a tenable proposition. It then says it will create four factories somewhere - just build them.

There is a lot of absence of feasibility. There is a real feasibility issue with its proposals. On the SSIA, we did an SSIA in the past but that will be another number of years before the funding comes on stream.

Start now.

There is huge public money going into housing. There is €9 billion this year and there is multibillion-----

If we could get more in, we would not have to-----

-----going into infrastructure. The issue is we do need private sector investment, which the Deputy's party has a huge problem with. It just hates the private sector.

The saving scheme is private sector-----

The Taoiseach to respond.

The Social Democrats hate the private sector. They do not believe it has any role in housing.

Absolute rubbish.

That is another fundamental difference. The Department of Finance says we need about €20 billion a year to get to 50,000 to 60,000 houses per annum.

We have a clear pathway to doing that. We need private sector investment to create additional supply. Does the Deputy accept that or does she not? Her spokesperson does not seem to accept it.

When the Taoiseach considers the context of 17,000 homeless people, including 5,000 homeless children, when you consider the fact that rents have gone up 117% between 2010 and 2025 when the EU average is 28.8%, when you consider that house prices are up €200,000 since 2015, he comes in here week after week and says that his approach is working. Every day he stands up and defends his approach and somehow tries to blame the Social Democrats is another day he loses even more credibility on housing.

Hear, hear.

All I can say is, I hope in the lead-up to the next election, people judge the Taoiseach not on his empty promises in those few weeks, but on his actions now. In the depths of a housing crisis, he is introducing legislation that allows landlords to jack up rents to so-called market rate in between tenancies, which will result in more children being evicted into homelessness. It is a disgrace.

Hear, hear.

Again, the Deputy comes in with the usual soundbites and trot them out-----

Get the violin.

-----and make assertions about the bona fides of people on this side of the House, which I think are unworthy. Everybody in this House wants to resolve the housing crisis. We have a clear view that it has to be a combination of public and private sector investment.

It is clear to everyone the Taoiseach's approach is not working.

The Deputy did not respond to my positioning. She is opposed to private sector investment.

That is not true. Why are you saying it?

I think that is a real issue in terms of getting supply. I did not interrupt the Deputy. She and her party have a habit of continuing interrupting when we try to respond to their points. I have no issue with a debate in the House, but I am making valid points. I have read her party's housing construction policy. In my view, it is not going to add value in the next two to three years. It could not.

The Taoiseach has been saying that for ten years.

The Deputy has not explained how it would deal with the existing Land Development Agency, which we have now provided billions for in terms of doing the work that it has to do. It has a pipeline of about 11,000 to 12,000 houses. Her proposals are fairly weak, if I am honest, in terms of dealing with the thing

But the Taoiseach has no problem giving investment funds their-----

Please, Deputy.

----- thousands of euro extra.

I am not blaming her for anything. I am simply saying what she is coming up with is not that effective or does not really have the capacity to solve the housing problem. There needs to be more scrutiny of what her party is coming up with.

Pot kettle black.