Opposition hits out at Minister for Housing over “bullyboy tactics”

Minister for Housing James Browne has continued on his one-man war with Dublin City Council – and members of the opposition have hit out at what they call “bullyboy tactics.”

Minister Browne contacted local authorities and demanded that they zone more land for housing.

The Minister has told council bosses across Ireland to “act with more urgency” and has reminded them of their “collective responsibility” to address the housing crisis.

Ireland’s notoriously weak local government, which has been ranked in the bottom five in Europe in terms of power afforded to local authorities, has been put under pressure by Minister Browne since he took office in January 2025.

Despite overtures from Taoiseach Micheál Martin that he wished to see a return of town and urban councils during this government’s lifetime, the actions of Minister Browne paint a different picture.

The Minister was quoted as saying that local authorities are “not moving quickly enough” to deliver housing, as the government attempts to get a handle on the housing crisis.

Last year, Browne pulled rank on Dublin City Council on a number of occasions, personally intervening to pull the plug on housing projects that the council were set to deliver.

In May 2025, Browne cancelled 250 “shovel-ready” housing units on the Northside, instead of the decision being made by Dublin City Council. 

Members of Ireland’s largest local government had to find out about Browne’s intervention via the media, without the 63 council members being given the chance to vote on it.

Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan criticised Minister Browne and what he called his “bullyboy tactics.”

The Sinn Féin leader on Dublin City Council remarked, “it shows just how desperate he is to deflect blame away from his own party in government.”

“His threat that local authorities could be contacted by An Taoiseach if they do not rezone land quickly enough is an insult and totally unacceptable.”

Of the 949 local councillors in Ireland, 493 are from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, and in the context of Dublin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in control of each of Dublin’s four local authorities.

Doolan said, “these bullyboy tactics are a sign of desperation; this government has normalised failure when it comes to housing. Minister Browne has failed miserably to deliver any solution to the housing crisis.”

“The current housing crisis is a direct result of consecutive government failure to fund and resource councils to build council and affordable housing,” the Ballyfermot-Drimnagh councillor said.

Doolan’s party colleague, Sinn Féin TD Eoin O’Broin, said, “instead of accepting responsibility for all of this, James Browne is once again engaging in deflection and distraction. He is once again blaming everyone else for his own housing failures.”

“James Browne should remember that it was his government that knowingly underestimated housing demand. It was his government that then delayed in providing councils with updated housing targets,” the Dublin Mid-West TD noted.

“Now he is criticising councils and councillors who are in the process of undertaking the statutory process for considering material alterations.”