Deputy, you keep on shouting and roaring. I put it to you that you have not answered the question in terms of more than 1,500 people objecting to it. We cannot afford-----

Fine. It is the mindset, Deputy.

Deputy, it is the mindset that you adopt.

You have opposed everything.

You have an obligation to put forward ideas. You have opposed affordable housing, you opposed help-to-buy, and you opposed first homes. You have opposed everything in this House to do with housing-----

-----because you have a different view, which I do not think is realistic-----

-----or viable in any shape or form. I think you would damage the situation and you would make it worse with your policies.

It could, actually. It could be much worse.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Of course, the origins of the residential zoned land tax lie in the context of the debate we have just had. The Government is totally focused on increasing the supply of housing. Any land that is zoned or that people sought zoning for that is not used for housing, we want used for housing. That is the fundamental objective here, to deal with the issue of supply. The only way we can deal with the housing crisis is to have additional housing supply. This would have the impact…

The view generally is that we have a lot of zoned land that has not been used. The objective is to use it. People who have sought zonings should use the zoning and get houses built.

The Deputy's point about phase 2 is fair, I think. That is being examined by the two Departments at the moment. The issue has been raised. There is a desire to have more compact growth in towns and cities, which makes sustainable sense in terms of climate, congestion and access to services. That is a broader planning objective people have subscribed to. There are some towns, though, where there has been questionable dezoning of land that no one has sought. Given the housing crisis we are in, we should be looking fo…

The Department of Education has a strong record of delivery of school building projects. Again, in 2022, it went way above its targets despite the high inflation, labour shortages and supply chain issues. About 180 school building projects were delivered in 2022, which included accelerated delivery of modular accommodation to support provision for 900 pupils with special educational needs. About 300 school building projects were under construction at the start of this year, most of which will be completed this year…

The advice from officials in the Department was very strong in stating that continuing the eviction ban would lead to real damage to housing supply and the rental market and would make the situation far worse. That was the evidence and is the proposition that was put to Government.

Make the situation worse, if you want to, with a short-term sticking plaster effect, or try to deal with the homeless issue through parallel measures, which we are going to-----

We are doing with the tenant in situ purchase, leasing and adjustments to the capital advance leasing facility, CALF, model.

The Deputy does not have a monopoly on compassion.

The Deputies imply this all of the time. The issue is we want to look people in the eye and say that we are taking decisions based on evidence and taking right decisions to help people.

The supply situation would be made far worse if the ban was continued.

I am talking through the Chair. The Deputy asked a question.

He either wants an answer or he does not want an answer.