Minister accused of distorting ‘damning’ housing report

The Housing Minister and Sinn Féin have clashed again in the Dáil, with Darragh O’Brien telling the Opposition party it has yet to produce any plan to tackle the problem of property supply and shortages.

Minister O’Brien told Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty: “I will be debating you from top to bottom, left, right and I will focus on housing because we have a plan.”

“If you had a plan that could be discussed and analyzed, you could ask the Housing Ombudsman (Eoin Ó Broin) why he said publicly over 14 months ago that he would publish a Sinn Féin housing plan and has not yet done so.”

He asked how Sinn Fein would “replace the supports we have put in place for first-time buyers”.

Doherty accused the minister of trying to distort the findings of the Housing Commission report, which was highly critical of government policy.

A report leaked earlier this week suggested a series of reforms after examining the government’s housing policy.

Making 83 recommendations, the Commission said it was “seriously concerned” about Ireland’s housing deficit and called for emergency action coupled with a “gradual increase” in supply.

Doherty pressed Mr O’Brien about the report and accused the Fianna Fáil TD of trying to use his findings as “endorsement” for the housing plan.

“It is not credible, as you have tried to do, to claim that your government is implementing most of the commission’s recommendations,” he said.

Doherty said the report was a “damning indictment” of the government’s “failure”, particularly on affordable housing.

“This is just part of what they have to say – “systemic failures, ineffective decision-making, reactive policymaking – all of these undermine affordability,” he added. “It’s you, Minister, that this report is talking about, in case you weren’t aware.”

He also said that “the only change that will happen in housing will be a change of government.”

Doherty called on the government to set a date in the Dáil next week to debate the report’s conclusions.

Labor leader Ivana Bacik described the findings as “sharp criticism” of the government’s housing policy.

“Indeed, damning findings on the Housing for All plan, a plan you revisited this week,” she said.

“As you put it on Tuesday night, you said that every worthwhile plan has built-in review mechanisms. You said that’s what the committee report says, but just having a review mechanism is not enough. Of course, it is also important to accept a scathing review and take action on the review’s recommendations and findings. The committee’s report makes clear that housing for all is not working.

She called on the minister to publish his department’s revised housing targets.

O’Brien said the new goals will be released in the fall.

He said: “Last month alone, 18,000 new homes were delivered, breaking all records. We have a significant goal for this year of over 34,500, and I intend to exceed that this year, by a significant margin.

Reporting by Cate McCurry