Tax breaks for developers would mean the Government has “learned nothing” from the crash, a columnist has claimed. 

Following the revelation that house building fell last year, the Government is understood to be considering financial incentives to stimulate private sector construction. 

While Fianna Fáil are understood to be in favour of the proposal, Fine Gael are said to be wary. 

On Sunday, Tánaiste Simon Harris posted a video on Instagram in which he warned that, “We can never go back to the failed policies of the past.” 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Sunday Independent columnist Conor Skehan said he believed tax breaks for developers would do just that. 

“Have we learned nothing?” he said. 

“Incentivising investment in housing is what destroyed the entire Irish economy before and here we are, the same political party, doing the same thing all over again. 

“Treating housing as an investment as opposed to a service, a thing that people live in, is what has destroyed housing.” 

New homes being built in County Kildare. Picture by: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Mr Skehan believes that many of the problems in the housing market could be solved with more consistency. 

“We have to stop bringing about changes in housing policy,” he insisted. 

“It is the constant changing of policies and changing investment that causes people to defer, thinking there’ll be something better around the corner. 

“We have to do the exact opposite - we have to say, ‘That’s it lads, games up. That’s what the deal is.’ 

“Within that market, people who have better propositions will come forward.” 

A landlord with the key to a property. Picture by: Sophie McAulay / Alamy. 17 November 2009

He added that people are naive if they expect tax incentives to work better than they did during the Celtic Tiger. 

“Economists always remind people that what precedes a disaster always are the words, ‘This time, it’s different,’” he said. 

“There’s too many reasons for developers to sit back and say, ‘I’ll wait another year and see what comes next.’ 

“Please stop making changes.” 

Last year, 30,330 new homes were built in Ireland. 

In the Programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised they would deliver “more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030”. 

For that target to be met, an average of 50,000 new homes will have to be built every year for the next six-years.

Main image: Micheál Martin on a building site. Picture by: Julien Behal Photograph / RollingNews.ie.