“The money is there” for the construction of 300,000 homes in Ireland over the next five years, according to Sinn Féin.

Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said what’s currently lacking is “political will,” after new research has shown that the population is now growing four times faster than homes are being delivered.

Sinn Féin launched its €39 billion ‘A Home of Your Own’ plan today, which outlines how the party would address the housing crisis if elected to Government in the next General Election.

The party is also calling for the Help to Buy and First Home schemes to be scrapped and for the Land Development Agency to be transformed into a new body with more power to acquire zoned land.

It promises to deliver 300,000 homes over the course of the plan, including 125,000 social homes and affordable purchase or rental homes.

On The Hard Shoulder today, Deputy Ó Broin said the almost €8 billion annual cost of the plan would be twice what the current coalition Government spends on housing.

“The bulk of that, about €5 billion, will come from voted capital expenditure within the existing surpluses that the state has,” he said.

“There’s no need to raise additional taxation, and then the remainder, about €2 billion annually, will come from borrowings by local authorities, the approved housing body sector, the Housing Finance Agency, the European Investment Bank, and some private sector lenders.

“So that’s a doubling of direct capital investment—but the money is there.”

Budget surplus spend

The Dublin Mid-West TD said it’s important to spend budget surpluses wisely.

“If you have surpluses, particularly if those surpluses aren’t going to last forever, the right thing to do is invest in critical infrastructure,” he said.

“The single most important critical infrastructure deficit we have is housing, so while those surpluses are there, invest that money now.”

“We’ve been very careful here; we held off publishing our plan until both the Housing Commission’s report and the summer economic statement were published.

“We’re satisfied, on the basis of all the information that we have now, that the money is there to deliver this plan.”

A new development of 800 homes under construction in Carrigaline County Cork. Image: David Creedon/Alamy

Unworried about labour force constraints, Deputy Ó Broin said the numbers currently working in construction are on par with 2004 when 60,000 homes were being delivered per year.

“Most residential developers are telling me we can be building more affordable homes now with the workers we have if we address blockages in planning if we address issues around the cost of finance and site servicing,” he said.

“Therefore, we can go from the 30,000 to 40,000, even 50,000 [homes constructed per year].”

“Some [construction workers] aren’t working at all now or the length of time it’s taking them to get on site is too long; some of them are also doing things that we don’t need more of.

“We don’t need more data centres, we don’t need more aparthotels, we need homes for workers at prices they can afford to rent and buy.”

Deputy Ó Broin added that 70,000 new homes will likely be needed per year in Ireland by 2029.

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Main image: Sinn Fein spokesperson on housing Eoin O Broin on the plinth outside Leinster House in January 2022. Picture by: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie