Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has accused the government of ignoring key Housing Commission recommendations on the number of new homes needed over the next five years.

The Dublin Mid-West TD’s comments were made in response to the publication of the government’s revised housing targets.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“After much delay and some petty politicking between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the government has finally published their long promised revised housing targets.

“Unfortunately, these targets fall far short of what is needed to tackle the housing crisis.

“If these parties are returned to office after the general election, they are promising to deliver 243,000 new homes from 2025 to 2029 with an average of 48,000 homes a year. They are also promising an additional 60,000 new homes in 2030.

“These targets are 20% below what the government’s own Housing Commission recommended earlier this year.

“That report, drafted by people involved in the delivery of public and private housing on a daily basis, said that a minimum of 300,000 new homes would be required from 2025 to 2029, with an annual average of 60,000. They also recommended that at least 70,000 new homes would be needed in 2030.

“Today the Taoiseach Simon Harris refused to explain this 20% shortfall when asked to do so by Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald during Leaders Questions.

“Today’s announcement by the government also ignored a second key recommendation from the Housing Commission, namely that at least 20% of all housing stock in the state should be social and affordable.

“To meet this recommendation, the government would need to double social and affordable housing output to at least 25,000 new homes a year from next year.

“Yet today the government had nothing to say about this issue. Simon Harris said this was a matter for political parties to set out in their manifestos.

“Without a doubling of public housing output from next year the housing and homelessness crisis will continue to deepen. Crucially without a dramatic increase in the delivery of affordable homes at genuinely affordable prices the affordable housing crisis will only deepen.

“Sinn Féin’s alternative housing plan, A Home Of Your Own, sets out how a Sinn Féin-led government would deliver an average of 60,000 new homes a year including 25,000 social and genuinely affordable homes a year. This is the only way to bring about an end to decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy.

“Today the government demonstrated one final time that they have neither the will nor the policies to tackle the housing crisis. Only a change of government will give people the hope that they can at last have a home of their own.”