During the General Election campaign, Sinn Féin has accused government parties of purposefully misleading the public by disseminating false material, reports RTE.
Deputy David Cullinane told the Dáil that the Central Statistics Office’s October figures made it abundantly evident that there was no “snowball’s chance” that 40,000 dwellings would be constructed in the previous year.
According to CSO data, 30,330 dwellings were constructed in 2024, a 6.7% drop from 2023, reports RTE.
Given that the 40,000 number was “hard-wired” into the Fine Gael manifesto, Mr. Cullinane asserted that Tánaiste Simon Harris was “up to his neck” in the matter.
He claimed that the government is still “having its head in the sand” despite the fact that all specialists are aware of what has to be done to address the housing situation, reports RTE.
Mr. Harris said that Sinn Féin’s “vote had collapsed” and that the Irish public had rejected the party’s housing proposal.
According to the Tánaiste, the government aims to enable individuals to buy their own homes and move them out of the box room at their parents’ houses.
Over 60,000 house commencement letters were sent out in the previous year, and he predicted that additional homes will be delivered as the days grow longer, reports RTE.
Malcolm Byrne, the TD for the Fianna Fáil, had earlier remarked that the government had made “a genuine mistake” in saying that 40,000 houses will be constructed in 2024.
“Yes, we made a mistake with the housing estimates. Housing is the government’s top concern, thus there was no attempt to mislead anyone, reports RTE.
Mr. Byrne stated that “there were still over 30,000 homes completed last year” during an appearance on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne.
Nonetheless, he said that the government was “aiming to construct more homes than were actually constructed.”
“There were reasons as to why last year there were a number of apartment complexes for instance which were due to be completed and for a variety of reasons didn’t get completed during 2024. But if you look at the pipeline of housing that’s coming now, we are seeing significant developments,” he said, reports RTE.
Those looking for homes have “placed faith in the Government to be able to deliver that over the next number of years,” according to Mr. Byrne, who added it is the “critical thing.”
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
