Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to say I do not agree with the last statement the Deputy made. Let us look at the facts and the figures. The 64,000 houses that have been built in the past three years, the houses that are under construction now, and the 30,000-plus houses that are in planning application with all our county councils and An Bord Pleanála show that Rebuilding Ireland is working. The people, including thousands of families, taken out of homelessness in recent years show that our policies are working. This is notwithstanding the fact that the challenges still exist and present daily. That is why we have adapted and modified Rebuilding Ireland over recent years in response to the lovely charities the Deputy named. Simon, Threshold, Respond and all the other agencies that work in specific areas of housing and homelessness do enormous work on behalf of the State for the citizens of the State.

We are happy to support financially all of these agencies that do so much work. It was detailed yesterday. Threshold and Simon issued their reports yesterday. Respond had a briefing for everybody in recent days. They show that they are dealing with very large numbers of people. They also show the response to those large numbers of families and individuals who are asking for help and getting help. That is exactly what taxpayers' money should be doing. It should be helping agencies that have specific expertise, alongside all of our local authorities, in providing houses for people who need houses.

It is not just at a social housing level. There are solutions at every single level. The Deputy has talked about modifying the rates at which people can apply for social houses. Maybe that needs to be done by local authorities but we also have the council home loan scheme, the Rebuilding Ireland scheme and the affordable housing scheme. There is a response at every single level to people who are at different income levels in the country to provide houses. Agencies with expertise are doing a super job. That all feeds into the 64,000 houses that have been built in this country in recent years. Some 24,000 houses are being built and 33,000 houses are in planning.

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