Hear, hear.

The number of children in homelessness is up 490% since Fine Gael took office. Those figures are much more than disappointing. It cannot in one breath claim that those figures are disappointing and in another suggest that Rebuilding Ireland is working yet the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, spent the weekend lying about Sinn Féin's record on policy and has the neck to mock our policy on housing. As Focus Ireland has suggested, is it time to draw-----

Senator Warfield, we have a protocol in this House. You may find fault with the Taoiseach but it is a very serious charge to accuse him of lying.

Serial-----

I might use another verb. I am not curtailing your contribution but that is a word that we are not to use here against the Taoiseach.

Spin.

The Deputy may feel strongly about it but he might find another adjective to explain what the Taoiseach said at the Ard Fheis. I do not particularly like the word "lying" because he is the Taoiseach.

It was on "The Week in Politics" actually.

I apologise for interrupting the Senator. He can continue.

To reflect on what Focus Ireland has said, is it time to draw a line in the sand? This is a symbolic moment and I use "symbolic" for want of a better word - 10,000 people in homelessness. The Minister also said on "Morning Ireland" that rent caps have led to rents falling but Dublin rents have increased by 8% since 2017 according to the RTB. We can do something about this. Members of the other House will have an opportunity to vote for a Bill that, if passed, would prevent many families from losing their homes - families at risk of homelessness. The Bill, which is based on a Focus Ireland amendment, would prevent buy-to-let landlords from issuing vacant possession notices to quit to tenants when they are selling their property. This is the single biggest issue and cause of family homelessness so I call on Senators to talk to their colleagues in the other House, particularly Fianna Fáil, which blocked this measure in 2016, to support this very small but important measure that would help people facing imminent homelessness.

I join with Senator Feighan in offering our condolences to the family of John Browne, a former Deputy and Senator and an absolute gentleman. He was also a former primary school teacher. He was a man who gave public service of the highest quality in the classroom, Seanad and Dáil for many years. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. I am very happy to second the call by Senator Feighan for the House's sympathy to be conveyed to his family.

I want to raise an issue related to our conversation this morning that would go a good bit towards solving the housing problem. Could we have a debate on remote working incentives and people working from home? With advances in technology, it is easier for employees to accomplish work and communicate with their employer from home. There is accessibility everywhere with the Internet. I know there is an issue with some rural areas but, hopefully, that will be resolved. We need to deal with the areas that have it at the moment and get people working there. Video chatting is easy. Cloud computing makes accessing company data handy. The costs associated with transportation, commuting, fuel and work wardrobes would be reduced. Of course, it would make a big dent in the housing problem. It would leave workers free to create their own schedule and give people the choice to live outside the city, which is so relevant here. It would bring about better local communities and cut down on the need for office space and possibly free up some of that for housing. Getting people to work in their local communities is a win-win situation and should be incentivised. I ask the Acting Leader for a debate on that issue. We should look at where a Government function could be sublet in that regard. We could show leadership because we could allow people to fulfil some Government functions by working from home thereby creating space in the city. It is one of a menu of solutions to the housing crisis but in itself, it is the right thing to do. I ask the Leader to take this up. I am convinced that this is the way forward and must happen.