-----to drive the supply of the homes that we need. We have heard nothing from the Opposition about how it would actually drive the supply of homes in this country. A number of comments were made. Deputy Stanley asked why rents are going up in Laois. Again, it is because of the lack of supply. The only way that people in Laois will get homes to live in is by the supply of homes being increased. That is absolutely crucial right across the country. Record numbers of social houses have been delivered since the 1970s. …

-----a consideration as to when we do it.

The one thing that is guaranteed is that the rents are not going to come down if the Deputy's party continues with its policies..

We know that. That is exactly the point. You have no policies.

All you have are slogans.

A Freudian slip from the Deputy there. We are driving on and addressing the housing crisis. We want to solve it in order that we can get people into the homes they need. That is why we are driving on with building social homes, affordable homes and private homes. It is also why we are bringing in stronger protections for tenants. In relation to the amendments, Standing Order 204 states the following: Twelve months following the enactment of a Bill, save in the case of the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill, th…

That is not what that says.

Market rents can go down-----

The Deputy should not be misleading. Markets can go up as well as down.

I thank the Deputies. We have been here for nearly three and a half hours debating the first amendment, but that is because there has hardly been a single discussion from the Opposition on the amendment. It has been referred to but most of the debate has not been on the amendment itself. Let us be honest: if the debate was simply on the amendment, we would have moved on a long time ago. I want to address a number of issues. Deputy Ó Broin is using the RTB data for scaremongering. Those were his projections from tha…

The Housing Commission recognised we could not continue with what we were doing. The Housing Agency investigated and recognised that we had some of the most restrictive rent controls in the world, which was killing supply of the homes that we need right across the country. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, said we had to move. We have to give people hope and we have to drive housing supply across the country. The Land Development Agency, LDA, has built 2,300 social, affordable and cost rental homes-…

-----with 1,900 this year and a pipeline of 12,000. It is driving the supply and the building of homes. Does Deputy Hearne want to know why I accuse the Social Democrats in particular with regard to social media clips? He stood up and started using hyperbole about the Famine. Deputy Hayes, sitting beside him, stood up and started talking about the altar of greed. What did he do the minute he sat down? He looked over at Deputy Hearne, gave him a wink and Deputy Hearne gave a big smile. That is why I accuse the Socia…

This is about addressing the housing crisis in this country. We are bringing forward and implementing solutions. We are giving tenants security and we are giving certainty to tenants, landlords and investors so that we can drive supply. This is about giving hope and delivering homes for people. I want people in their homes right across this country, and that is what we are doing.

We have had Housing Agency assessments.

We have to drive the delivery and supply of homes. We know that if we do not do this, we will not get the supply that we need. We have had endless modelling over the years. It is always based on a no-change basis. This is going to bring the change that we need to deliver the supply of homes.

I will address a couple of the issues that have been raised. If a tenant involuntarily leaves, the rent cannot be reset under these rules. That is very important. You will always have tenants who will voluntarily leave. The number of HAPs in this country has reduced by about 9,000, give or take. That is as a result of the significant increase in social and affordable housing we have been delivering. People will always leave tenancies voluntarily. If they do that, a rent can be reset if the landlord was going back o…

That is an additional protection.

We have to drive up-----

If the tenant breaches a contract, yes. In relation to the 240,000 tenancies and there being no change, I have said that multiple times, just as I have said multiple times that one child homeless is one child too many. Everything I am doing is about driving up the delivery of homes. The entire rental and housing market is always going to be dynamic, so I am not going to indulge the fantasy, as the Deputy refers to, of giving a date and a time for when rents are going to change.

We know if we do not bring in changes, rents are only going in one direction and that is up. As important is the fact that if we do not bring in change, we are not going to get the supply for those people who are living at home and need somewhere to rent, or as the population increases. Our population has increased by about 810,000 people since 2014. That requires an average of about 250,000 new homes, which is about what has been delivered. We need to deliver more to solve the housing, rental and homelessness cris…