Commenting on the proposals contained in the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) pre-Budget submission, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD said that “the majority of the proposals will not ease the housing affordability crisis.”

Teachta Ó Broin said: “The proposals published by CIF, especially in terms of tackling the so-called bureaucratic and regulatory objectives adding to delays in housing delivery are not backed up by any evidence.

“It was the same when government and former Minister for Housing Simon Coveney bowed to industry pressure to introduce the Strategic Housing Development legislation, which did not speed up delivery but skipped an important local democratic process on planning.

“The promotion of a shared equity scheme to deliver ‘affordable’ homes is not surprising, but such a scheme would not see the cost of buying a home being less for the purchaser but instead saddles them with both a mortgage and a shared equity loan.

“It seems they have forgotten how the last shared equity scheme worked out when 44% of the households who benefitted ended up in arrears.

“Extending the Help to Buy scheme until 2025 is a waste of taxpayer money as 40% of the claimants who qualified for the scheme already had the full deposit.

“All in all, the housing delivery section of CIF’s pre-budget submission will do little to help those wishing to rent or buy an affordable home – it will only line the pockets of the big developers.

“This funding would be better spent on delivering genuinely affordable homes on public land.”