The Housing Minister says he knows €600,000 isn’t an affordable price for a home.
Darragh O’Brien was speaking amid concerns about the potential price tag for thousands of new proposed properties at Poolbeg in Dublin.
One council official said the affordable homes could cost as much as €600,000 per unit.
Minister O'Brien told The Pat Kenny Show he can't comment on specific planning proposals.
However, he said: "I was asked generally if I believe €600,000 is affordable. I don’t - it’s not.”
A new national affordable housing scheme has recently been signed into law.
Minister O'Brien said that legislation will make homes more affordable, but affordable was “never envisaged” to be as much as €600,000.
He said: "I want individuals and couples to be able to buy homes at an affordable rate - we’re going to be able to do that with the legislation put in place, backed with the finance that will come forward in the housing for all plan."
The Government had been due to unveil its new housing plan, but it has now been delayed by several weeks - until at least the end of August - as details are finalised.
The Housing Minister said there's about 4-5% of work still to do before signing off on the plan.
He said: "I want to be able to publish the best plan we can. There’s a small bit of work to be done on vacancy… about how we can use the stock that’s out there that remains empty.
"Some things we’ve only just recently agreed on, like the Fair Deal [proposals]… about homes where people are in long-term care facilities. Should they decide that they’d be able to rent out those homes or indeed sell their homes?”
He said people availing of the Fair Deal scheme can already rent their property to family members, but the Government wants to "extend that further" to give the person and their family more choice.
He stressed that they've been working very closely with Mary Butler - the minister of state for older people - around the proposals.
Minister O'Brien also said work is continuing to move away from the reliance on Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) - acknowledging there's evidence HAP levels have actually brought up rent costs in some areas.
