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

We have always accepted that there is a housing crisis and shortage in the country. Nobody in any party in this House is in denial about that. I have not had a chance to read the Deputy's document yet. I do not think I have received it but it may be in my post bag, which I have not had a chance to look at yet.

The first case the Deputy raised is a complex one and there are individual matters involved which I will not go into in the Chamber, but perhaps I can speak to her about it privately afterwards. We all acknowledge there are human stories around homelessness and the appalling impact homelessness has on both parents and families. I share the Deputy's concern about children who, in the run up to Christmas, are concerned about whether Santa will be able to find them on Christmas Eve. He will find them, and the same goes for children in hospitals, emergency accommodation, hotels or who are at home with their parents.

The solution to the housing crisis, on which we all broadly agree, is to increase dramatically the supply of housing in this country. We have an expanding, growing population and more households are being created every year, which means we need to build many houses. The Central Bank is right that we need to build about 35,000 new homes a year. We are not there yet, but in the two and a half years since I became Taoiseach, the number of new homes being built has trebled. That is significant; it is not enough and houses can only be built so quickly. It is significant that the number of new homes being built has trebled in the past three years. We need to double that number again and get up to 35,000 or 40,000 houses per year, which we will do as soon as we possibly can. This year, we have added 10,000 homes to the social housing stock. That is significant as it means 10,000 families are now living in homes that were not being used for social housing this time last year. Santa will arrive in 10,000 houses which were not available for social housing this time last year. We need to build on that and get up to 11,000 houses next year and 12,000 the year after, which we will do.

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