I welcome Austin Appelbee and his family. Austin, you inspired us all with your immense courage. Well done.

In March, reports emerged of mass evictions across the country as a result of the new Fianna Fáil rent law. When I raised this with the Taoiseach at the time he told me that the facts did not bear out any connection. However, the latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, confirm exactly what we previously warned him about. The botched so-called rental reforms have indeed triggered what has now become a wave of evictions. In the first three months of this year alone, more than 7,000 eviction notices were issued, which is a 50% increase from last year. These figures should not come as a shock. They are the inevitable consequence of the Government's policies. It gave private landlords a year's notice that they could jack up rents, but only if they got rid of existing tenants before the end of March. Families and children are suffering as a result. Threshold has supported more than 10,000 households in the first three months of this year alone. That is 3% of all households in the private rented sector in just 12 weeks. Behind every notice to quit is a person or family living in utter fear.

Out in Galway and Dublin over recent weeks I have met renters in tears as they wonder where they will go next, like the family I met in Cabra of two parents, both working, and two teenage children. They have spent the past 18 months in cramped conditions in a homeless hub because they simply cannot find anywhere to rent or buy. I have spoken before about our Labour representatives' experience of meeting renters contemplating suicide because their situation is so utterly desperate. People need hope and they need Government action to resolve the housing crisis.

What action has the Government taken? It rushed deeply flawed legislation through, guillotined the debate, ignored multiple amendments from Labour's Deputy Conor Sheehan and other Opposition parties and the Taoiseach literally scoffed at us in the Chamber when we warned this measure was effectively an incentive to evict and an amnesty on rent hikes. The Tánaiste even told me the measure, in his words, actually "protects renters"? However, what kind of protections are these for renters who have already endured more than a decade of failure from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, where rents have more than doubled in ten years? This is before the full impact of the Government's market reset and rent hikes to come. The Taoiseach said last weekend that the defining challenge of our time is to give hope to young people that they can find an affordable home, but his policies are leading to thousands of young people being evicted from their homes. He has achieved the highest level of evictions since the Famine, the highest level of child homelessness ever and he has nothing to offer renters. Unlike him, we have put forward constructive proposals. We have published legislation for an emergency three-year eviction ban. Will the Taoiseach support Labour's Bill and will he intervene to stop the tsunami of evictions and keep children out of homelessness?

I again do not accept the full presentation because the Deputy is being somewhat disingenuous. She attacked the rent reforms. By the way the whole reform of that was advised in the first instance by the Housing Commission and she urged us to implement its recommendations. That is the first point, and it did need to be reformed and the reforms have added protection for tenants. One of the outcomes of that is, in terms of those who are objecting to the six years, that some landlords opted out but there is always a churn in terms of tenancies, landlords and so on and there is a higher number, over 13,000-----

People being evicted onto the street is not "churn".

-----who have actually entered the market. As some people exit the market, more enter the market and it needed to be sorted and to be solidified as well, and the Deputy knows that. Her objection was she tried to portray it as an incentive to developers and landlords but it is the protection elements of the reforms that have caused some smaller landlords, perhaps, to exit. She cannot have it both ways.

The Taoiseach cannot have it both ways.

No, I am sorry; the Deputy cannot have it both ways. We need to have a settled landscape out to the next decade or so in terms of the investment side of the equation to get more in. The bottom line is 36,000 homes were delivered last year, which is the highest since records began and up 20% on 2024. A total of 38,000 new dwellings were completed in the 12 months ending quarter 1 of 2026, which is an increase of 26 year on year. Since 2020, about 177,000 units have been built. Planning momentum is very strong, with 8,000 permission in quarter 4 of 2025, which is up by close to 20%. Some 20,000 houses were granted permission in 2025, which is the highest number since 2009, and there were 8,400 commencement notices in quarter 1 of 2026, which is up 184% year on year. Real dwelling investment is up 19.4% in the first three quarters of 2025. Construction employment was at 191,900 at the end of 2025. That is up 30% since 2019 and 12% year on year. The HBFI loan book grew 25% in 2025. We allocated €1 billion to the housing infrastructure investment fund. Residential planning permissions in Dublin exceed 78,000 units. Some 24,246 apartments are under construction or on active sites across Dublin. There were 50 new schemes active during quarter 1 of this year alone. In total, 31,936 homes were either built or under construction across 202 active sites in quarter 1 of 2026. That is evidence of very significant momentum within the housing area and supply is the key. On social, affordable-----

Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Bacik to respond.

-----and cost rental, the increases are happening across the board.

With respect, what I have heard from the Taoiseach just now is Alice in Wonderland logic or Micheál in Wonderland logic.

The Taoiseach is telling me the Government has introduced protections for renters and that these have, somehow, generated evictions, so which is it? He made claims about construction figures that he needs to go back and look at again. He used the word “churn”. That is deeply hurtful to those families, like the family I described, like the family I met in Oranmore, and like families we are all meeting all the time.

I hear that the Taoiseach is telling members of his own parliamentary party that there is a wonderful response on the doors in the by-election, but he must know this is not the case. That is more Alice in Wonderland thinking. All across the country, all of us who are constituency TDs are hearing from people who are desperately hurt, who are in fear and who are getting notices to quit and have nowhere to go. The figures speak for themselves and the stories behind the figures speak for themselves, no matter how much the Taoiseach tries to spin it and no matter how much he lectures me about "churn" in this House. He said it in March. He is saying it again now.

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

It is not the case for people living the reality-----

The time is up, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach.

People enter the market and people leave the market continuously, and have done so. The Deputy knows that. It is just a fact. The bottom line is that she cannot spin away either and pretend that nothing is happening in terms of housing supply.

No.

Over 9,000 social houses were built last year. Those were direct builds that the State funded. Housing is the number one issue facing the people of the country. Our population has grown exponentially, and if we dig deep under the demographics and the population figures, we can see the impact on the pressures on the housing situation because of the different parts of that demographics story. I can deal with that at a later time.

We need to increase housing supply, and this is what the Government is focused on in a whole range of initiatives that we have introduced, from social housing to cost-rental to affordable housing. There are a significant number of drawdowns for first-time buyers, for example. It is much higher than it was back in 2015, when the percentage of first-time buyers was 26% of all household buyers.

I thank the Taoiseach.

It is now 40% in 2026.

The time is up. I call Deputy Holly Cairns.

We need it to happen faster-----

Time is up. I call Deputy Holly Cairns.