Northside opposition TDs have questioned if the government misled the electorate over housing targets before heading to the polls last November.
On the campaign trail, the claim was that 40,000 homes would be built by the end of 2024, but the actual number came in at 30,330.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the government’s targets were “bull” and that the election was called knowing that the figures were not going to be met.
“The government knew in advance of the general election that it had not a hope of hitting 40,000 new homes for 2024,” she said.
“Just days before the general election was called, then finance Minister and Fianna Fáil deputy leader, Jack Chambers, was handed an important report by the Department of Finance that laid out in black and white that 40,000 homes would not be delivered.”
The Dublin Central TD said that the claim that 40,000 homes were going to be built was mentioned repeatedly by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael during the election campaign.
Then-Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien told the Dáil last October “I have consistently said we will exceed that target and I still confidently predict – and Sinn Féin will be disappointed – that it will be the high 30,000s to low 40,000s this year.”
The scandal took on a new dimension during Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to the White House, when American President Donald Trump remarked that the housing crisis was a “good problem to have” and the Taoiseach laughed in reply “that’s a pretty good answer, Mr. President.”
McDonald said that the Taoiseach’s interaction with Trump “made light of people’s suffering.”
“Does the Taoiseach think it is a ‘pretty good answer’ for people locked out of home ownership, renters crucified with rip-off rents and young people unable to get a start in life choosing between staying at home with their parents or going to Australia?”
“Does the Taoiseach think it is a good answer for mothers and fathers forced into homelessness and children being raised in bed and breakfasts and hotel rooms? The Taoiseach’s sniggering interaction hurt a lot of people,” she said.
The Taoiseach asserted that his comments were being taken out of context, stating that the full comments were “the number one issue in Ireland is housing,” which led to the exchange with Trump.
“It is a pity the Deputy did not quote that in respect of how I addressed the housing issue in a serious and substantive way when I was asked a question during the press conference in the Oval Office,” he replied.
The Taoiseach then accused McDonald of “playing politics” about the White House saying she “didn’t have the guts” to travel to the States for St. Patrick’s Day.
He conceded “it was extremely disappointing that we did not make those targets in 2024,” and said that the overall Housing for All targets were exceeded between 2021 and 2024, but “that is not enough.”
“We built more houses in the past three years than since the early 2000s. We built more social housing in the past three years, You would have to go back to the 1970s to get the same scale of social housing new builds in this country, as well as provision. We will continue to focus on that in terms of the delivery of social and affordable housing. We also need to get more private sector investment involved.”
During the Watergate hearings, Senator Howard Baker famously asked “what did the President know, and when did he know it?” and Dublin Bay North TD Cian O’Callaghan engaged in a similar line of questioning in a bid to get an answer out of the Taoiseach.
“The Taoiseach was asked a simple question, which he did not answer; did the Minister for Finance share with him the analysis from the Department of Finance that the 40,000 homes claim was not going to materialise last year?”
“Did he share that analysis with the Taoiseach before the election date? The Taoiseach might answer this question because he has been asked twice and he has not answered it.”
“The Taoiseach promised that 40,000 homes would be delivered last year, and we know that just 30,300 homes were delivered. Last week we learned that the number of planning permissions collapsed by almost 22% in 2024. Now, the Central Bank is telling us the Government will miss its housing targets for the next three years. We also learned that house prices have increased by 8.1% over the past year.”
The Social Democrats TD then compared the Taoiseach to Comical Ali, a reference to Saddam Hussien’s foreign affairs minister who became famous for claiming that Iraq was still under state control and not about to fall to American forces.
“In advance of the election, he (The Taoiseach) was very clear on housing targets, as was Fine Gael. He said this year’s target was 41,000 homes. Are we now to understand that this figure is not worth the paper it is written on? Does the Taoiseach think that people will forget the commitments he made just a few months ago?”
The Taoiseach retorted that the housing targets were met in 2022 and 2023, but did not answer the question about housing targets for 2024.
A third attempt by O’Callaghan to get the Taoiseach to answer about whether he knew housing targets would not be met before election day then saw the Dáil descend into a shouting match.
Between the shouts, the Taoiseach said “the fundamental point I am making is that the figures the Deputy is making a big song and dance about were published, not by the Department of Finance, but by the Central Bank in September,” essentially deflecting the blame to the Central Bank on the issue.
By shifting the focus to the Central Bank projections instead of his government department, the moment passed and the issue of housing figures, which has dogged the government since it took office in January, has been left unanswered for another week of Dáil sittings.