Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The figures for the number of people in emergency accommodation that were published yesterday are bad and they are distressing for everyone affected by homelessness and for everyone who is working night and day to resolve the enormous social problem we face. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, they are disappointing given that they had gone down in December. Many of us hoped that was the beginning of a trend but it is certainly not possible to say that at the moment as they have gone back up again. That says to us that we must redouble our efforts to increase the supply of affordable and social housing and all other forms of housing. As the Deputy correctly pointed out, that is the fundamental solution to this problem. Following seven years of almost no houses being built, we are ramping up housing construction again - both social housing and private sector housing. People moving into new homes frees up rental properties for others. Project Ireland 2040, which was published two weeks ago, has housing all the way through it.

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