Sinn Féin has accused the Government of avoiding scrutiny by holding a press conference at the same time as Ryan Tubridy’s appearance before the Oireachtas.
Today, the coalition’s three party leaders and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien delivered a quarterly update on their flagship Housing for All policy.
A new €150 million fund to end long-term vacancy and dereliction was announced and the Government hailed the “strong progress” the construction sector has made this year, with building work started on 13,000 new homes.
Today we announced details of a €150 million fund to end long-term vacancy and dereliction in towns and cities. The fund can transform locations across the country and promote vibrant communities in our urban centres pic.twitter.com/vcjHwbDVlX
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) July 11, 2023
Despite this, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin was unimpressed.
“For not just the Minister for Housing, but the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party to then organise an alternative event away from the glare of public attention and publish 75 pages of a report that doesn’t give us much progress at all, I think is media management at its very worst,” he told The Hard Shoulder.
“I think they are desperate that people don’t pay attention to what they talked about today because I actually think if it got the full scrutiny it deserves, people would be even more angry at this Government’s failure with the housing crisis.”
Deputy Ó Broin said there was nothing of substance announced and Ministers were unable to say when the housing crisis would dissipate.
“On really important issues, like when are we going to start seeing homeless numbers fall, they simply couldn’t answer that,” he said.
The Dublin Mid-West TD described renters as neglected by the Government and said the press conference did nothing for them.
“Renters have never been as vulnerable, never been as insecure, never been charged rents as high as they are, never been more at risk of homelessness,” he said.
“And not a single new initiative announced today from Government to tackle all of that.”
New housing in Kenmare, Kerry, IrelandDeputy Ó Broin also urged the Government needs to change how planning permission is granted to speed up the delivery of new homes.
“We have to cut back the red tape and allow our local authorities, approved housing bodies and SME builders to build the social - and crucially - affordable rental and affordable purchase homes that people need,” he said.
“If it takes 12 months to deliver the homes, why are we adding another 18 to 24 months on top of that?
“Some of these rules were put in place after the Celtic Tiger crash to try and restrain bad spending - it’s now costing us money.
“Every 12 month delay in social and affordable housing projects, a 10% increase in cost.”
A recent survey by Daft.ie found that property prices in Ireland continue to rise.
Main image: Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing, Eoin Ó Broin, speaking to media on the plinth outside Leinster House. Picture by: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
