Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to apologise for misleading the public on housing completions.
The Dublin Mid-West TDs call comes after it emerged in the Main on Sunday that Darragh O’Brien’s claim that 40,000 new homes would be built in 2024 was based on a report from the research arm of Deutsche Bank.
Despite these estimates not being supported by either the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the Central Bank, or the Central Statistics Office (CSO), they were restated repeatedly as fact by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael during the General Election campaign.
Teachta Ó Broin said:
“In August last year, former Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien wrote to the coalition leaders outlining his view that up to 40,000 new homes would be built in 2024.
“In the letter, published in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday, the Minister’s claim was based on a report from the research arm of Deutsche Bank.
“However, the 40,000 claim was not supported by estimates from the ESRI or the Central Bank. They were further undermined when the CSO published their Q4 completion figures last September.
“Opposition TDs and media commentators also questioned the credibility of the figure.
“Despite all of this, the three leaders of government, Micheal Martin, Simon Harris and Eamonn Ryan continued to repeat the 40,000 claim right through the election campaign.
“It is now clear that they were deliberately misled by the former Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.
“And despite accumulating a body of evidence that undermined the 40,000 claim, Micheal Martin and his cabinet colleagues continued to mislead the public right up until polling day.
“Micheál Martin should now do the decent thing. He should apologise for misleading the public on new housing completions.
“He should also call on his new Housing Minister James Browne to introduce a level of honesty in debates about housing policy – something that was sorely lacking under the previous government and Minister for Housing.”
