The latest daft.ie rent report was published this morning. The consequences of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil rent hike Bill are now laid bare. Rents have hit their highest level in 25 years and are increasing at the fastest rate since records began and evictions are at their highest level since the Famine. This is devastating for renters. The rent rule changes announced by the Government last summer and introduced on 1 March are a disaster. What these massive rent hikes mean in real terms is that in Dublin, renting a two-bed apartment will cost you an eye-watering €30,000 per year. In Galway city, where rents have shot up by 18%, a two-bed will set you back €27,000 in rent per year.

Is it any wonder that there is so much anger and despair among young families in Galway - people who are desperately trying to put an affordable roof over their heads? Who in God's name can afford these rents? Can ordinary workers, families or young people afford them? They do not have a hope. They do not stand a chance. How does the Government expect people to live? How does it expect young people to save for their own home? The Government has knowingly caused this nightmare with its rent hike bill. The daft.ie report calls it out in black and white. It states that "the ability to reset rents between tenancies appears to have led to a step-change in rents, with the largest quarterly increase in rents on record." This report includes only the first month of the Government's disastrous legislation, so renters will now be terrified that there is much worse to come.

I warned the Taoiseach that the Government's Bill would open the floodgates to massive rent increases but he refused to listen. In fact, he told me that I was wrong. The biggest corporate landlord in the country also told the Government.

They boasted brazenly to investors that the Government's legislation allowed them to jack up their rents by extortionate amounts but the Government pushed ahead, intent on lining the pockets of the corporate landlords, big developers and vulture funds and utterly indifferent to the consequences for renters, families and ordinary people. Today, however, the Taoiseach has nowhere to hide. We now see the consequences of his actions as plain as day, with record rents, record evictions, families with nowhere to go, young people forced to choose between paying crippling rent, moving back in with their families or emigrating, and stress, worry and panic. That is what the Government has done to an entire generation and it has done it deliberately, with its eyes wide open.

Tubaiste amach is amach is ea an Bille sin a bhfuil de thoradh air go bhfuil níos mó daoine á gcur amach as a dtithe agus cíosanna níos airde ná mar a bhí riamh. Thréig an Rialtas tionóntaí chun pócaí na dtiarnaí talún móire agus na gcreach-chistí a líonadh.

The Government has chosen to back big landlords and punish renters. It could have cut rents, banned rent increases and put a stop to no-fault evictions, but no. With its rent hike Bill, it chose to make life better for the corporate landlords and property funds, so they laugh all their way to the bank, while the lives of families, workers, students and young people are turned upside down. What has the Taoiseach to say today to those renters who were thrown to the wolves?

Hear, hear.

Rents have been too high for a long time. Why?

Because of your Bill.

It is because there is a shortage of supply.

Allow the Taoiseach to answer.

The Deputies have had their chance. With respect, they should allow democracy to take place.

The Taoiseach had his chance.

Manners, please. The Deputy's leader will respond.

The one thing I observed in the presentation by Deputy McDonald was the absence of any solution, the absence of any idea except to ban rent hikes-----

Get rid of this Government.

-----which will destroy supply. Any international organisation analysing the rental market or any property market has said time and again that rent controls or the freezing of rents just reduces supply, kills the market for the long term and will keep prices at too high a level. The Housing Commission recommended that we had to change the rental situation in terms of the rent pressure zones.

It did not recommend that.

Again, Sinn Féin Members are interrupting and again they do not have either the manners or the cop-on to listen to some rational arguments on this question.

At least I do not misrepresent the Housing Commission's report, as the Taoiseach has done.

With the greatest of respect, Deputy, you went off to Davy Stockbrokers. You went off to all that gang before the election and we saw the incoherence of your response.

Be honest about the commission's report.

I am not going to ask again. Respect the discourse of the House, on both sides.

Again, recommendations for reform came from the Housing Commission, the ESRI, and the Housing Agency.

Not for this reform.

The bottom line was this. What was in place could not be sustained. Equally, it is about supply-----

Can we sustain the current evictions and homelessness figures?

In terms of our proposals and what is happening, we had 36,000 additional houses last year. Supply ultimately will moderate rent increases.

When?

Deputy Ó Broin, your party leader asked the question. You are not special.

Will it be in three years, four years or six years?

Deputy Ó Broin, do you have a special dispensation that I am unaware of? Please allow the answer to the question your Leader has asked.

Daft.ie data is asking prices. It is not the complete data set for the entire rental market in the country. Deputies should know that. That is the bottom line. The asking prices are usually greater than usual. The Central Statistics Office, in its monthly change analysis, showed a figure of 0.3% in quarter 1 of 2026. The Residential Tenancies Board covers the entire population of tenancies, which is about 246,000. With daft.ie, it could be as low as 2,300 tenancies. We have to treat the daft.ie data with care in terms of any proper, comprehensive analysis of the rental market. The latest RTB data shows continued growth in quarter 1 of 2026, with 246,000 tenancies. That is the highest on record. There are more tenancies and properties available.

No, there are not. That is not true.

The Deputy's party leader will respond.

There is no doubt that, with the change, there was going to be an impact on the market. There was no question about that. It was actually said at the time by various agencies. The bottom line is that there had to be certainty given to the landscape because we are spending about €9 billion of State money. The direct State intervention in the housing market is around €9 billion. The Central Bank says we need about €20 billion. We need a combination of public sector and private sector investment in housing. That means a long-term certainty in terms of the rental market. I looked at all the Opposition parties' proposals before the election and all their manifestos. They are very poor in terms of analysis.

They are very poor.

There is not much point in this.

They are shocking.

Allow the answer.

The Taoiseach says that with a straight face.

All Sinn Féin offered the last time was a house without the land. Actually, Deputies may feign a laugh-----

-----but I would challenge anybody-----

We have rising rents, rising house prices and rising homelessness.

It is now up to Deputy McDonald to respond. Deputies have been very disruptive.

What has been unacceptable is that there has been a deliberate attempt to interrupt and heckle.

What is unacceptable is 7,000 children in emergency accommodation.

I did not interrupt Deputy McDonald.

It is deliberate but it has been handled. The Taoiseach's time is up. I ask Deputy McDonald to respond.

We have record rents and record house prices.

Will Deputy Ó Broin allow his leader to respond, unless it has changed?

The Taoiseach has nowhere to hide today because the consequences of his actions are very clear. The Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil rent hike Bill has meant the highest rent hikes on record and evictions at the highest levels since the Famine. The Government has chosen deliberately to side with corporate landlords and vulture funds. Those are the Taoiseach's choices. It takes a very particular type of slíbhín to stand-----

A Cheann Comhairle-----

That is out of order.

-----in this House and suggest that it is okay for families to face a rent bill of €30,000 a year in Dublin and €27,000 in Galway.

Deputy McDonald.

It is a very special kind of slíbhín politics from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Shame on you.

Deputy McDonald, your time is now up but I ask you, on behalf of the House, to withdraw the name you have just used.

It is true.

Will you withdraw that remark?

A slíbhín is a slíbhín.

You will not. That is fine.

A rose by any other name and a slíbhín by any other name. Shame on you, Taoiseach.

I have asked. Deputy McDonald, your time is up. Now you are taking advantage. Resume your seat.

That is your record, Taoiseach. Do not dare lecture the rest of us on the Opposition benches.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach to respond, please.

He has no response.

With the greatest respect, it is just plain stupid to go on about the greatest evictions since the Famine. That is not being serious about our housing problems.

It is statistically correct. It is a fact.

We have a housing crisis here but all I see from the Opposition-----

Allow the answer.

All I see from the Opposition, Sinn Féin in particular, is empty rhetoric, no solutions and the usual sloganeering. That will not build houses. I have a document here with all the objections of those parties' representatives. They objected to housing project after housing project.

As a party, it is not-----

I understand this is about politics and electoral politics. What I am determined to do-----

This is about homelessness. This is about renters.

Deputy Ó Broin.

No, it is not.

This is about an entire generation locked out because of your policies.

I suggest we move on.

Deputy Ó Broin is empty in terms of policy formulation.

It is about the 7,000 children you made homeless.

You are empty on substance, Deputy Ó Broin. You have no substance when it comes to housing.

Thank you. This is absolute, total and utter disrespect.

You have no substance whatsoever and the proof of the pudding was in the last election when people did not buy your pig in a poke. You got it wrong and your party knows you got it wrong.

That is it. I call Deputy Ivana Bacik.

It is an absolute disgrace.

Before the Deputy starts, it is incomprehensible that, as either side of the House is incapable of respecting one another's time-----

That is not true, a Cheann Comhairle.

I said "one another's" in terms of respectful discourse. I am asking for co-operation to get through the business of the day. I call Deputy Ivana Bacik.