Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin, has said that Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien is fooling himself if believes the government is delivering housing.

He was responding to a Sunday newspaper report citing private developers as being ‘flabbergasted’ by the Minister’s response to the Housing Commission’s damning assessment of government housing policy.

Deputy Ó Broin added that delivering genuinely affordable homes for workers and families will only be achieved under a Sinn Féin-led government, and that the first step to realising that is voting the government parties out of office in Friday’s local and European elections.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“Over the course of this election campaign, housing has consistently been the number one issue coming up on the doors and right across the state.

“The only people who believe Darragh O’Brien and this government are delivering on housing are Darragh O’Brien and this government.

“This weekend homeless figures reached 14,000 for the first time since records began. 

“Never before in modern times have so many families, single people and pensioners been forced to live in emergency accommodation. 

“That is a direct result of this government’s housing policy, and my concern is that this is being normalised as if you were watching the RTÉ Six One News on Friday and blinked, you would have missed their passing mention of record homelessness.

“The government’s disastrous record on housing and ever-growing homelessness cannot and should not be normalised. It must be scrutinised.

“Yet in the 12 days since the leaked Housing Commission report’s damning assessment of the government housing policy, Darragh O’Brien and his government colleagues have firmly buried their heads in the sand.

“They have attempted to spin the report as a positive endorsement of their failed policies when nothing could be further from the truth, and the electorate will not be taken for fools.

“Today, even private developers joined the chorus of voices saying that the government is failing, with Michael O’Flynn saying he is ‘flabbergasted’ by Darragh O’Brien’s response.

“Let’s be very clear, the Housing Commission’s independent experts used terms such as ‘systemic failures’, ‘ineffective decision making’ and ‘reactive policy making’ to describe the disaster that is this government’s approach to housing.

“The report goes on to add that only ‘a radical strategic reset in housing policy’ will fix the problem. 

“That necessary reset will only be achieved under a Sinn Féin-led government, and local councils will be crucial to delivering affordable homes for ordinary workers and families. 

“That is why change needs to start this Friday. When people go to the polls in the local and European elections, they should remember that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are the parties of homelessness, high rents and homeownership being out of reach.

“Voting for change this Friday, led by Sinn Féin, is a crucial first step in undoing decades of disastrous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy.”