LEO’S DONE ‘ZERO TO FIX HOUSING CRISIS’
Fianna Fail leader slams Varadkar on new builds
LEO Varadkar’s plan to solve the housing crisis was slammed on the Dail’s first day back yesterday.
Dismissing the Government’s record on new builds, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said across all four Dublin councils no new properties have been built so far this year. He added: “In quarter one of 2017, for example, how many houses have the four Dublin local authorities built between them? Nil. Zero are completed. Imagine, there were 638 last year. The situation is getting progressively worse.” Mr Varadkar told TDS the Government has committed billions to the housing problem and that this will produce results, albeit slowly, he admitted. He said: “We have a plan, which is Rebuilding Ireland – it is working. “It is funded to the tune of €5.4billion over the period of the plan but we acknowledge more needs to be done. “We are getting to the point where we are starting to see supply recover but we are very much in catch-up mode, but catch-up is what we intend to do.” Challenging those claims, Mr Martin said: “The Taoiseach’s reply, with the greatest of respect, illustrates the disconnect between the Government rhetoric and the reality on the ground.” Housing charities and homelessness campaigners had been warning all summer that the numbers of families without a home was getting out of control. Earlier this month, the Department of Housing’s own figures confirmed homelessness has reached record levels with 8,000 people – 3,000 of them children – have with no place of their own and in temporary accommodation. There is also a drastic shortage of new homes being built and the lack of stock has seen rents reaching record highs. Campaigners have warned that with fewer homes, and rents becoming even more unaffordable, it could be inevitable that thousands more may be forced on to the streets or into temporary accommodation if the Government’s response is inadequate. Mr Martin said: “Only 25% of the 10,000 units so-called ‘in the pipeline’ are on site – it will be 2021 before they come on stream – compared to the already too-low target of 26,000. “We have got all the targets, we have got all the commitments but every year the reality falls far short of those targets. Meanwhile, union bosses at ICTU have launched a campaign to make the housing crisis a “national emergency”. It has demanded at least 50,000 homes a year are built – twice the current Government target.