There were many omissions in the Minister's ill-fated housing plan launched only a matter of weeks ago but one that was particularly astonishing is the removal of targets, either across the life cycle of the plan or, indeed, on an annual basis, for cost-rental and affordable purchase homes delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the Land Development Agency, LDA. Can the Minister explain why these targets that were in his predecessor's plan were removed and does that mean he has abandoned …

I would like the House to note that the Minister, of course, completely avoided the question and instead gave what can only be described as an Orwellian response to a simple question. There is no new starter home programme. What the Government has done is it has taken a bunch of schemes that existed under the previous Government's plan and, indeed, its predecessor, it has bundled them all up and it has added them into a global figure. The reason it is important, in particular, that there are targets for the deliver…

If that is the case, why would the Minister not say he has a target for new-build social homes? Again, this is a scheme that he funds and a scheme that local authorities and approved housing bodies deliver, some in conjunction with the Land Development Agency. It makes no sense to say that we do not need targets for cost rental and affordable purchase but we do for social housing. Again, it is a very simple question. There were clear targets for next year, some of which the Minister shared with us in the committee …

Yes, since 2016. Confidence and supply.

The Minister has published legislation that is going to make the most profound changes to the regulation of rents in the private rental sector in over a decade. From March of next year, tens of thousands of renters, progressively, quarter on quarter, are going to lose the meagre protections of the rent pressure zones and over time see their rents reset to market rents. Astonishingly, the Minister's Department conducted no analysis of the impacts of these changes on the rents that renters actually pay. Why did he no…

The House should note for the second time tonight that the Minister has studiously avoided the question. What do we know about tenancies? The Residential Tenancies Board tells us that the average length of a tenancy is three and a half years long. In the past 12 months, 70,000 fresh first-time tenancies were created. That is 28% of the total number of private rental tenancies. If those trends continue - trends that have been in train for a number of years - then within four years, the overwhelming majority of rente…

With the greatest of respect, security of tenure is no use if you simply cannot afford the rent. The family homelessness crisis started in 2014, not because landlords were selling but because landlords were hitting tenants with double digit rent increases. Over the space of three to four years, the number of children in homelessness went from 800 to over 3,000. As for the so-called security of tenure measures, the Minister is going to create three different types of security of tenure; for existing tenants in exist…

Cost-rental supply, social supply, affordable purchase supply.

It is not apartments costing €3,000 per month. Get your head out of the sand.

Utter nonsense.

How will apartments for €3,000 per month lower homelessness and lower prices?

Affordable homes are needed and the Minister is not delivering them.

Sit down, you are embarrassing yourself at this stage, really.

Homelessness will increase month on month as a result of these failed policies.

I do not want to hear it, but I would like an answer to the question that you will not answer, repeatedly, over and over.

People can see your housing policy failures writ large.

Homeless figures are out on Friday. Are they going to be down? No, they will not.

I apologise.

I do not like homelessness rising and that is your responsibility.

I do not like rents and house prices rising and that is your responsibility. That is what I do not like, Minister, not your refusal to answer questions.