First I will deal with the specifics and will come back in later in terms of how we can help people over all with housing but Deputy Boyd Barrett needs to put his shoulder to the wheel as well. I would also say, as a caveat, that the Deputy has a habit of raising individual cases and when people go checking out those cases, the story does not always turn out to be exactly as he presented it in the House. There tends to be other issues relating to it. I am not going to get into the habit of discussing individual cas…

I would make two points to the Deputy. The rental market is the key market but the Deputy does not believe in landlords at all. That is fair enough.

He does not believe in a system where we-----

He does not believe in a system where we have landlords. He said that.

Sorry now, let us not get too smart. This is a serious issue. It is about time Deputy Boyd Barrett's policies came under the microscope. He keeps on attacking and attacking but when it comes to the structure of our rental sector, he believes it should be all State run. That is his position. He does not believe there should be any private rental market. Correct?

It is correct. That is what the Deputy believes. That is fair enough; he is entitled to that belief. He does not believe there should be a private rental market.

Let us not twist it now. That is the Deputy's position. My view is that we need to increase the number of houses available to let. That is what we need to do. We need to keep more of the smaller landlords in the market and we need to attract more landlords into the market. We need more people to provide-----

Investors, yes. An investor could be a person who is investing in a pension. It may not be a "big corporate" which is how the Deputy loves to label every landlord and that is part of the problem here. People are getting out because they see the kinds of attitudes that have been developed. Anyone interested in tackling homelessness in the fullness of time must provide social housing, which we are doing. We did 10,000 last year. Sinn Féin is saying that we can magic up 20,000 but one cannot magic up 20,000 new builds…

We delivered 10,000 in 2022-----

Yes, between leasing, acquisitions and so on.

The target this year is 12,000. We need to do more and we will. We are doing affordable but Opposition Deputies keep opposing everything we do to try to provide more housing. Deputy Boyd Barrett, it is alleged, has opposed well over 1,500 houses in his own constituency. Indeed, it could be close to 2,000.

In one case he said that it would "dampen the Victorian ambience" of the area.

Then he comes in here and shouts about a housing crisis. The Jackies he mentioned would have a far better chance of getting more sustainable housing if we all treated the housing crisis as a crisis, including Deputy Boyd Barrett. He should do that rather than engaging in nimbyism in his constituency, opposing left, right and centre. The fundamental issue, I put to the Deputy, is supply and he knows it. This measure would ultimately dampen supply in the medium term which would create more homelessness in the fullnes…

No.

I do not know who the Deputy is talking about.

I do not know any of the details relating to any of the four Jackies that the Deputy mentioned.

He said at the outset that he would not identify individuals, which is right, fair and proper but he has a habit, and I have experienced it on the floor of the House, of giving a version of stories which does not always turn out to be the comprehensive story. I will leave it at that.

In terms of the county council, in the case that the Deputy mentioned, it should buy the house. It is simple.

Councils can buy for people who are over the threshold. They should buy the house under the tenant in situ scheme. The directive is going out. The Deputy asked for an answer and I am giving him one. The Minister is issuing a directive and a circular today to local authorities to make sure-----

Six hundred were bought.