Fewer homes have been built this year than in 2023, new data from the CSO has revealed. 

In the first nine months of 2024, 21,634 houses and apartments were built - 691 fewer than in the same period last year. 

Despite the figures, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has insisted that the Government will exceed its housing target for 2024. 

“The target this year under Housing for All is 33,450,” Minister O’Brien said. 

“I have consistently said we will exceed that target. 

“I still confidently predict… that it will be the high 30,000s to low 40,000s this year. 

“There will be record completions in the last quarter of this year.” 

Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien speaking at Dublin Castle. Picture by: Alamy.com 

However, Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O'Callaghan predicted the number of new homes built would be significantly less than 40,000. 

“Unfortunately, there’s less homes being built this year,” he said. 

“So, the idea that we’re somehow going to, in the last few months of the year, see the number of homes being completed double - it just isn’t realistic.

“I think the Housing Minister is saying this because there’s an election coming up and he knows full well that the election will take place before the figures for the end of the year are actually out. 

“I think people can see through that.” 

Last year, 32,695 new homes were built in Ireland.

Main image: Builders at work. Picture by: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie