Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I am not hearing any acceptance of responsibility. The Taoiseach leads the Government. His party has the housing Ministry, and yet every time any of us in opposition raises the housing crisis with the Taoiseach, he seeks to deflect responsibility, putting it back on the Opposition and suggesting we have no policy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am very proud of the Labour Party's housing policy. The Taoiseach clearly has not read it if he thinks we want to set up an entirely new agency. Our policy is about ensuring there is a State-led approach to the necessary investment that will deliver the homes people need and to ramp up the Land Development Agency, which we supported, to a point where it has capacity to deliver.

That is what people want, and the Taoiseach is boasting about more people being able to get mortgage approval. I am hearing from families who are losing mortgage approval. They are losing it. It is running out because they cannot find homes to buy. There are simply not enough homes being built to meet the demand that is there. The tenant in situ scheme, which is supposed to save families from homelessness, is simply not working. Where is the radical reset and the Government approach, ambition and urgency needed to fix this housing crisis?

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