Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach's reply, with the greatest of respect, illustrates the disconnect between the Government rhetoric and talk and the reality on the ground. In quarter 1 of 2017, for example, how many houses have the four Dublin local authorities built between them? Nil. Zero are completed. There were 638 last year. The situation is getting progressively worse.

The first decision of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, was to abandon the plan by his predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to end families living in emergency accommodation in hotels by July last. His very first decision was to state he was abandoning that plan. The Taoiseach will forgive me and the rest of the country for being a bit sceptical about saying the Government will reach targets. Only 25% of the 10,000 units so-called "in the pipeline" are on site - it will be 2021 before they come on stream - compared to the already too-low target of 26,000. We have got all the targets, we have got all the commitments but every year the reality falls far short of those targets. I outlined the initiatives that the Government announced over the last two to three years. The Government said these would make an appreciable difference and these would make an impact. They have made no impact. It is negligible.

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