-----the easiest thing to do is to call for rent freezes and bans, indefinite bans. What impact do you think that is going to have on the rental market? That is my point. If you indefinitely extend an eviction ban, you undermine the market. We know already there are people leaving the rental side. The figures are clearly there. There was 21,000 home sales last year involving landlords selling their property while 7,500 were bought by landlords. That means a net loss of 13,500 of the rental stock.

What the Deputy is proposing, I would respectfully suggest, is adding to the insecurity, adding to the lack of certainty around that. What we need to do is retain those who are renting out their homes at the moment in the rental market and we need to attract new people in with properties to rent to increase the supply. What the Opposition is looking for, in our considered opinion, would damage supply and exacerbate the situation. That is the fundamental point here. There is no one cruel here in this House. No one h…

-----in terms of making sure people are not made homeless and we do as well. People will make all of the political stuff that we have to listen to from time to time but the reality is, it is our considered opinion that if we extend this for three months or six months, the situation gets worse in terms of the exodus from the rental market.

We need to build more houses more quickly. We did 30,000 last year, 10,000 more than the previous year. Even during the last eviction ban up to 7,000 houses were completed and significant addition leasing and so on.

During the time of the current ban, 7,000 social housing units were completed, and in addition 600 were leased and 500 bought, 1,500 voids were returned to use and 500 emergency and 150 cold weather beds were provided. The idea that nothing has been done is just a myth. A lot was done.

All Deputies seem to accept the ban cannot be indefinite. That is a dishonest position because what will happen every six months is we will have the same row and Deputies will want the ban extended again. We saw that with Sinn Féin. Two weeks ago, it wanted to extend the ban to 31 December and now the date is 31 January.

Does anyone believe the Opposition would abolish it in six months' time? It would not; it would keep on going. The point is that would make it worse. We genuinely believe that would make it far worse. In the interim, we have to engage with issues. There is no limit to the tenant in situ scheme. We have issued directives to management and managers to buy houses where people face the threat of eviction.

I do not agree with the old trope that is put out that everybody is talking rubbish except myself, which is what the Deputy's position is. We need to reflect on that. This is a parliamentary debate where people have legitimate views they can put forward. I may disagree with the Opposition on certain issues but I respect its right to put points to me. I do not declare everything is rubbish and say the Minister is listening to people with no brains as if everybody out there is foolish and stupid.

I am addressing the issue. The Deputy made those points and it is legitimate for Government to robustly defend what it is doing in respect of housing. The Housing for All plan is a plan. I have seen no other plan in terms of comprehensiveness or actual schemes, from the affordable housing scheme to the first homes scheme, Croí Cónaithe, the cost-rental scheme, the 30,000 houses and apartments built last year and a range of budget initiatives. Without question, there has been a fundamental intervention in housing by…

It should not be part of the planning process. It should be part of policy, in terms of-----

Developers will argue on a continuous basis for more and more responses. We listen to what builders and people more generally are saying. In respect of compact apartment building, I accept there is a viability issue. We have taken measures to try to improve that situation and we are reviewing other measures which can help viability if we can take costs out.

No, we do not take measures to make matters worse. I have already outlined that 30,000 houses were built last year. There are now more people working in the construction industry.

As I said, we had the largest number of first-time buyers last year. That is not the picture the Deputy created in her presentation. In addition, next year there will be higher targets in respect of social housing and the work of the Land Development Agency. The foundations are there. We have to keep this going for the next ten years in terms of the level of housing we have to build. We need faster and better delivery on the planning side.

We are not all as ingenious as the Deputy is.

I want to make the point that in the past year 30,000 houses were built. The Deputy keeps saying that not a house will be built. Some 30,000 were built in the past year and we need to do more in the years to come. I am interested in first-time buyers. The Deputy may not be, but I am.

The younger generation needs access to housing too. Younger people need to know that over the next decade, as they come out of school and get into work, and so on-----

With the greatest of respect, I listened to the Deputy and I did not interrupt her. She seems incapable of hearing an alternative viewpoint. She is playing to a gallery and an audience here. I am trying to address the issues here and she is playing politics.

I will say what I wish to say, which is in accordance with the parliamentary process. I am endeavouring to make our point and I am being constantly interrupted all of the time. The Deputy either wants a reasonable debate, during which we can go through the issues, or she does not.

The problem is with the language the Deputy uses. According to her, everybody is stupid except herself. That is exactly what the Deputy is saying.

In the first instance, I accept that the situation is not at all acceptable in respect of disability services for children, and in particular in respect of access to therapies. The HSE has argued that it finds it very difficult to recruit and retain staff. There are fundamental issues in terms of the human resource management of therapists, particularly in respect of paediatric services. The Government decided at the outset to transfer disability services, particularly for children, from the Department of Health to…