The Government is considering tax refunds or cash grants for private developers in order to increase housing production.

There is significant pressure to meet housing targets now, after a significant shortfall last year.

30,000 homes were built in 2024 - well below the 40,000 goal.

The Irish Independent has reported that the Government is now considering tax refund and grant schemes that would incentivise developers to build on previously used sites.

Ireland Editor with the paper Fionnán Sheehan told The Anton Savage Show that similar schemes have been successful in the UK.

“They’re modelling it off schemes that were put in place in the UK back in 2021,” he said.

“The UK had similar problems, they had a housing shortfall, they needed to incentivise, and they looked at particular schemes in particular around brownfield sites.

“[These] are basically commercial sites that were previously built on, that you’d have to clear and put new apartments on.

“So, they were largely speaking in urban areas – it allowed you to redevelop docklands or industrial sites and stuff like that.”

Mr Sheehan said that developers would avoid building on these sites due to the cost of clearing them.

A new housing development in Dublin, © PA Archive/PA Images

According to Mr Sheehan, the shortfall of around 10,000 homes was “a real shock” to the Government.

“As recently as late November in the General Election campaign, you had Micheál Martin and Simon Harris going, ‘Oh no, we’re building 40,000 houses this year’ - so how do you end up with that shortfall?” he said.

“So, they’re kind of turning this into a rationale then to say, ‘Well, look, there’s a problem here within the housing market around the provision of housing within the private sector and we’re going to have to do something about that’.

“Because you can’t just turn around and say, ‘Well, the State is going to build housing either through approved housing bodies or local authorities or the Land Development Agency, that’s grand, you don’t need the private sector’.

“Their argument is you do need the private sector, and that’s why you’re seeing talk about the rent caps and the rent pressure zones being abolished.”

COVID-19

Mr Sheehan said that COVID-19 had disrupted both the political and construction system for a good two to three years after the last General Election – but that there would be “no excuses” this time around.

“It will be said to them a year or two years into their term in office, ‘Listen lads, what are you putting forward this time as your rationale for not being able to ramp up supply, because there isn’t COVID-19',” he said.

“You’ve had the legislation in place, there is also ample amounts of funding now because we’re running substantial budget surpluses.

“So, that basically means that all of the arsenal of methods that you need to have in place in order to increase the number of house that have been built are all in place.”

Recent reports have shown that housing supply would need to increase to an average of 60,000 units per year to address just half of the shortfall over the next five years.

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Main image; A person holds and counts budget money. Image: imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG / Alamy