Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It seems that the Minister for announcements and glossy pamphlets over there is so preoccupied with repackaged launches that he has lost sight of the need to deliver real homes. What we are seeing is a chronic failure of delivery which has compounded housing distress for so many people and so many families. I am thinking of two particular families I am dealing with at the moment. One comprises a father and daughter who is a wheelchair user. The father is renting a second-floor studio that is inaccessible. He has to carry his daughter up a narrow and unsafe staircase each time they come home. He has answered several hundred advertisements on daft.ie but cannot even get a viewing.

The other family is a mother and her two young children. She says her mind has gone to a very dark place due to her inability to secure a safe, affordable home for herself and her children that is near to her parents for whom she is a carer. These are just two of the families. I know all of us in the House hear from families with similar distressing stories and experiences because the chronic housing shortage is causing real suffering.

Upon taking office in December, the Taoiseach pledged to go all out and take a "let's do everything" approach to housing. The Tánaiste said we have turned a corner on the crisis. The Taoiseach is on record as saying that we are at least on the cusp of turning a corner. The reality is that the Government is nowhere near the corner. It continues to move at a snail's pace with a real failure to deliver. It is more focused on policy launches than the physical delivery of homes.

I will give some specific examples. Last August, the Government came under pressure when leaks exposed the lack of measures for renters in the budget. In response, the Minister announced a €500 renters' tax credit. The Government was warned then that this would not deliver the affordability and security of tenure that renters need and that would have been better brought about by, for example, the Labour Party's renters' rights Bill, which the Government did not oppose. It went ahead with the credit and news broke last week that half of renters have still not claimed that credit. Clearly it was not the measure that renters needed.

In March, the Government lifted the temporary no fault eviction ban without any evidence or any contingency plan in place. It then announced another sticking plaster, a first refusal scheme for renters where the landlord is selling. It was warned that it would do nothing for the majority of people who receive an eviction notice. Incredibly, three months later, we still have no detail on how the scheme will work. I am still hearing from families desperate to buy their homes and they cannot do so. We continue to see missed building targets, unspent departmental budgets and rising homelessness.

Will the Taoiseach accept that the renters' credit was the wrong measure and instead pass legislation to protect renters? Will the Taoiseach say when the first refusal scheme will actually come into effect? When will the legislation even be published? What is the blockage on delivery in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage?

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