I welcome our Polish community and also a group of students who are with me from Trinity and schools in Dublin and Wexford.

Far too many people in Ireland suffer the trauma of losing their home. That is a direct result of the Government's policy. It prioritises the market over people. It did it in March, incentivising landlords to evict with new rent laws, and it is doing it again now, this week telling 16,000 Ukrainian refugees to fend for themselves in an overheated rental market or return to a war zone. So much for solidarity with Ukraine. In Dublin, even if a person's budget is €1,500 per month, there are just two two-bed properties for rent on daft.ie today. The housing crisis has been normalised on the Taoiseach's watch. As a local TD, it is getting harder and harder to support people through this deepening crisis, but each year, the Government is pursuing the same policies and things are getting worse. We are now hearing from constituents who are even grappling with suicidal thoughts as they and their families face the horror of eviction.

Threshold supported more than 10,000 households in the first three months of this year alone. That was 3% of all households in the private rented sector that are struggling. People cannot cope. I know the Taoiseach would love for homeless figures to reduce but the Government is doing nothing about it. He must face up to the fact that its policies are making things worse and that there are people in Ireland who are profiting from this social disaster. Scarcity drives profits up for land hoarders and higher rents benefit price-gouging landlords, yet the Government is subsidising those who are speculating on this social disaster. When it pats itself on the back, as I know it will, for the mortgage drawdown figures today, it is missing the point. The Government needs to close the door to lobbyists and open its eyes to the solutions before it, because we know what works. The eviction ban slowed the pace of homelessness. In the 1960s, under a Fianna Fáil Government, the National Building Agency, a State construction company, built homes at scale, lifting thousands of families out of squalor, yet the Taoiseach ridicules Labour's proposal to transform the Land Development Agency into a new State construction company.

The Government's policies are failing people. The Government is failing the 5,500 children in homelessness, failing the 60% of renters unable to afford rent, and failing the 60,000 on the housing list. Yesterday, the Cabinet failed once again to agree measures to stop Airbnb and short-term letting companies from mopping up the supply of homes, and at the same time, the Government decided to throw thousands of Ukrainian refugees to the mercy of the rental market. It has passed laws unleashing a tsunami of eviction notices and its solutions are "shedsits" and tax breaks for developers. When will the Government take radical action to end the housing disaster, stop evictions of renters and refugees, and ramp up the Land Development Agency to build homes at scale?

I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy's proposition. The State is investing the majority of funding in housing right now and has been for the last three to four years.

Not true.

Deputy Bacik's presentation, saying that we are favouring the private market, does not add up. There are record levels of State investment, nearly up to €10 billion this year.

Tax breaks for-----

They are not tax breaks at all. Come on, the Deputy knows it. That is untrue. Let us have an honest debate about it. The only thing Labour has produced in its policy responses is a State housing development agency. That is all. Not one paragraph in it is fleshed out at all, as far as I can see.

Yes, there is.

I will make this point to the Deputy. Thirty-six thousand houses were built last year. Supply is the key here. Labour keeps opposing measures that will add supply. The Deputy talks about an eviction ban. She said it would slow down homelessness. It would slow down supply, and did slow down supply. Be in no doubt that supply is the key. We need to get to 50,000 houses a year.

Not a chance. Not a chance.

That needs to be balanced with public sector investment and private sector investment. "Private sector contribution" should not be seen as a dirty term, as some on the left see it.

It is not. It is about home ownership.

It is a very important contributor to getting to 50,000 or 60,000 houses per annum. The momentum is very strong now. Unfortunately, this crisis in the Middle East could be problematic in time.

It is always somebody else's fault.

You cannot blame the housing prices on that.

We need that war to end. We have built about 170,000 houses since 2020 and 50,000 apartments have been built. There were 8,000 permissions in quarter 4 of 2025, up 20%, and 20,000 houses were granted permission in 2025, which is the highest number since 2009. Commencement notices were up 184% in quarter 1 of 2026. Real dwelling investment was up by close to 20% in the first three quarters of 2025. Construction employment was at 191,000 at the end of 2025. That is up 30% since 2019 and 12% year on year. The Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, loan book has grown by 25% to €3.2 billion. We have announced the €1 billion housing infrastructure investment fund, which is also doing very well. I can go through all of the various investments that the State is putting into this. Nearly 59,000 social houses have been added since July 2020. It is significant that 60% of all mortgages drawn down now are first-time buyers. That matters. I would not dismiss it like the Deputy tried to in her opening remarks.

I am not dismissing it. I acknowledge it.

I am not missing anything here. That is significant because it means the measures we have introduced are helping first-time buyers, albeit at prices that are still too high, but the only way we will deal with that price issue is by having more supply. We need a more collective approach to housing supply and not to oppose every single thing that the Government brings in.

In terms of the reforms, the Deputy knows well that some smaller landlords did not like the reforms because they gave additional protections to tenants, not the other way round. That is the impact. We did protect tenants-----

I thank the Taoiseach. Deputy Bacik will now have an opportunity to respond.

We can agree on one thing, which is that supply of homes is key, but the Government is not delivering increased supply. Unfortunately, the only momentum is with the tsunami of eviction notices that people are experiencing. The Government cannot blame the housing crisis on Trump - the Taoiseach knows I have acknowledged the impact of the global energy shock - because the Government's policies have not changed. They are failing to deliver for people.

They are failing to deliver for people like the family I met in Oranmore last week who asked me to tell their story - a couple with three small children, one with additional needs, who received a notice to quit. They will be evicted in June. They are facing homelessness and a support worker has advised the father, who is working, to give up work to improve chances of getting a home. What has the Government got to offer him? What has it got to offer my students in the Gallery? It seems there is an acceptable level of homelessness. This figure has been normalised. It is climbing every month. Deputy Sheehan is out with other Opposition spokespersons commenting on the homeless figures every month. They continue to climb - 5,500 children. Those three children I met in Oranmore will join those figures. What will the Taoiseach do for them?

Housing supply is the key-----

It is key.

-----and we need to build more houses. Labour's policies would actually reduce housing supply. There is no question.

Where is the evidence of that?

As to the other point on homelessness, the profile of homelessness has shifted dramatically. There is no question. That is the reality.

Now you are blaming homeless people for homelessness. That is outrageous, Taoiseach.

If you look at the figures-----

Respect.

The Taoiseach of the country is blaming homeless people for their homelessness. He is responsible for their homelessness. What a disgrace.

Deputy Ó Broin, the last time-----

I am not blaming anybody. Deputy Ó Broin is wrong.

Sorry, Taoiseach. Excuse me. Stop the clock, please.

That is exactly what you are doing. You are blaming the victims of your own housing policy.

The biggest factor, if you look at the figures----

That is an absolute disgrace.

Deputy Ó Broin, there is nothing special about you, or is there?

Deputy Ó Broin, you are not leader of Sinn Féin yet. By the looks of things, you will be a long time waiting.

I do not want to be leader but I want to see homelessness fall. That is not happening under you.

What I want to say is this. If I could speak to Deputy Bacik-----

Taoiseach, the clock is stopped.

Sorry.

Excuse me while I address the Chamber. Deputy Ó Broin, the rules apply to everybody. Interruptions are not allowed. Your leader has had Sinn Féin's question and was afforded the time, if I recall, by everybody to put the question.

I am routinely interrupted.

I was provoked by the Taoiseach.

Deputy Ó Broin, if you cannot have respect for the Chair, have respect for your colleagues.

I have respect for the Chair-----

Thank you, and for your colleagues.

-----but I have no respect for a Taoiseach who misleads the House.

Enough from everybody. Taoiseach, please resume.

The fundamental change in homelessness, and it is still an issue, without question, is the fact that less than 50% are now Irish citizens. Migration has impacted hugely on homelessness.

Oh, the Simon Harris line.

Enough.

The facts speak for themselves. If we cannot have an honest debate-----

On a point of order, it is unacceptable to conflate-----

Look, do not be getting into high dudgeon now. That is the truth, unfortunately, whether Deputy Bacik likes it or not.

That is outrageous.

The Deputy can try and make all the commentary she likes about that, and I say that-----

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, is disputing that.

I call Deputy Cairns.

Look at the Dublin figures alone.

We know the figures. Government policy creates homelessness.

Thank you, Taoiseach. I call Deputy Cairns.

It is out there-----

Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Cairns is on her feet.