Days before the general election was held, the Taoiseach declined to disclose whether he was informed of a Department of Finance assessment that stated the government would not meet its housing objectives of 40,000, reports Breaking News.
On Wednesday, the Dáil was informed that the Department of Finance’s study verified that the government would fall short of the alleged 40,000 housing objective.
Then-finance minister Jack Chambers put pressure on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to clarify if he had been given this information, reports Breaking News.
According to Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, the minister received the report just a few days prior to the general election that was held in early November of last year.
Senior government officials have come under fire for saying during the election campaign that over 40,000 new homes will be constructed in 2024—a long cry from their own goals, reports Breaking News.
This was in spite of the Central Bank’s September Quarterly Bulletin projection that completions would reach about 32,000.
The Housing for All plan calls for 33,450 new homes to be built in 2024, but only 30,330 new homes were finished last year, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office earlier this year.
The government has been accused repeatedly by opposition parties of deceiving the public about its housing statistics.
Ms McDonald said: “The government knew in advance of the general election that you hadn’t a hope of hitting 40,000 new homes for 2024. Just days before the general election was called, then-finance minister and Fianna Fail deputy leader Jack Chambers was handed an important report by the Department of Finance, and that report laid out in black and white that 40,000 homes would not be delivered. Nobody could seriously believe that the minister would have kept that information from the government on the eve of an election. It was too important, so I assume he shared it with you,” reports Breaking News.
“What I know is that Minister Chambers did not tell the public. On the contrary, two days after receiving this report, with the general election under way, he claimed that the government was on course to deliver 40,000 homes. And this untruth was repeated by you, by (Tanaiste) Simon Harris, by (former housing minister) Darragh O’Brien, again and again throughout the campaign,” reports Breaking News.
Cian O’Callaghan, the deputy leader of the Social Democrats, urged the Taoiseach to clarify if the previous finance minister distributed the department’s report to other ministers.
Mr. O’Callaghan told the Dail, “There is now a mountain of evidence that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael purposefully misrepresented housing delivery figures during the election,” reports Breaking News.
When questioned about this year’s housing objectives, he said that Mr. Martin would not respond.
Mr. Martin defended the government’s stance on the housing objectives by stating that there were several estimates for house completions in 2024.
“We’ve exceeded targets, and particularly in 2022 and 2023, we exceeded Central Bank targets. We exceeded other targets who felt we would come in lower. That’s the position,” Mr Martin said. “The first quarter of the following year is when the statistics come in, and there are a variety of publications. Data was published in September by the Central Bank and others. But the Central Bank had come in lower in previous years. It was extremely disappointing that we didn’t make those targets in 2024. The overall Housing for All targets were exceeded in that three- year period. But that’s not enough. We have to build more houses and build them faster,” reports Breaking News.
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