EU Council Presidency must produce “real progress on housing” says Ó Ríordáin

Labour MEP for Dublin, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has said Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union must produce “real, measurable progress” on housing.

Ó Ríordáin praised European Council President António Costa for placing the issue at the centre of his address at Wednesday’s opening ceremony in Dublin Castle.

Costa told the ceremony that the European social model exists to address one of citizens’ greatest concerns: access to affordable housing.

He noted that he put the housing crisis on the European Council’s agenda last October, that the Commission has since brought forward a strategy for affordable housing, and that housing will be a key focus of Ireland’s presidency.

The Labour MEP said, “when the President of the European Council stands in Dublin Castle and names housing as a defining test of Europe’s social model, we have to act.”

“Ireland cannot claim to lead Europe on housing for the next six months while our own housing emergency deepens,” he said.

“Costa was clear that this is now a European priority, backed by a Commission strategy. Our government has a six-month window to turn that political commitment into something concrete. We need real movement on the EU’s affordable housing agenda, and honesty about the scale of the crisis here in Ireland.”

Ó Ríordáin noted, “this government is skilled at presenting a facade of action to the international community, but behind that facade things are getting worse, not better. We need more, not less, direct investment by the state in housing. We need to break our over-reliance on the private sector, which is driving rents and house prices to such unaffordable levels.”

The European Commission will unveil the first-ever European affordable housing act on July 7th.

Ensuring this act is both fit for purpose, and passes will give Ireland its first test case, Ó Ríordáin stated.

“As S&D negotiator on the Housing Crisis Report, I know we secured real gains in the report for people including EU funding for housing, stronger protections for tenants, and recognition of housing as a social good. We agreed the need to confront speculation and financialisation in the housing market, and support for scaling up Housing First to tackle homelessness, and that we work to ensure child homelessness and the needs of vulnerable groups were addressed head-on. This is what our presidency of the EU must now build on.”