Sinn Fein accuses housing minister of spinning damning housing report

Sinn Fein has accused the housing minister of attempting to spin the findings of a report which was highly critical of the Government’s housing policies.

Pearse Doherty and Darragh O’Brien clashed on housing in the Dail on Thursday.

The report, which was leaked earlier this week, contained a number of reforms following an examination of the Government’s housing policies.

Outlining 83 recommendations, the Commission said that Ireland has an opportunity to change policy to improve the lives of citizens.

It said it had a “major concern” with Ireland’s housing deficit and urged emergency action coupled with a “step-change” increase in supply.

Mr Doherty pressed the housing minister on the report and accused him of attempting to spin its findings as an “endorsement” of their housing plan.

“It is not credible, as you’ve tried to do to claim, that the majority of the Commission’s recommendations are being progressed by your Government,” he added.

“Are you trying to suggest that the Government Commission didn’t know what they were talking about?”

Mr Doherty said the report is a “damning indictment” of the Government’s “failure”, particularly in terms of affordable housing.

“This is just some of what they have to say – ‘systemic failure, ineffective decision making, reactive policymaking all undermine an affordability’,” he added.

“That’s you minister that they’re talking about in that report, just in case you didn’t realise.

“The Housing Commission concluded that you, your decisions, your policy, your government made rents go up and made houses more expensive.

“Sin e. Full stop. That’s what they’ve concluded.

“The report states that Ireland has the opportunity to change policy and I couldn’t agree more, but after 12 years within of Fine Gael in Government, supported in the main by Fianna Fail through the majority of those years, change will not come from these parties that created the crisis.

“The only change that will come in housing is with the change in government.”

Mr Doherty called for the Government to schedule time in the Dail next week for a debate in relation to the findings of the report.

Mr O’Brien said: “I will debate you up and down, left, right and centre on housing because we have a plan.

“If you had a plan that one could debate and analyse, you might ask your housing spokesperson why did he say publicly over 14 months ago that he will publish the Sinn Fein housing plan and he has not done so yet.

“What would you replace the supports that we’ve brought in for first time buyers?”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik described the findings as a “searing critique” of the Government’s housing policy.

“Findings which are damning, in fact, of the Housing for All plan, a plan which you stood over again this week,” she said.

“As you put it on Tuesday night, you said any plan worth its salt has review mechanisms built in. You said that’s what the Commission’s report was, but it’s not enough just to have a review mechanism.

“Clearly, it’s also important that you accept when the review is scathing and that you undertake to act upon the recommendations and findings in the review.

“The Commission report makes clear that Housing for All is not working. The Commission has called for a radical strategic reset for emergency action to address that massive shortfall of homes, over a quarter of a million homes, which are so badly needed for communities, families, individuals across the country.”

She called on the minister to publish his department’s revised housing targets.

Mr O’Brien said the new targets will be published in the autumn.

He added: “Last month alone, we saw 18,000 new homes commenced, breaking all records there.

“We’ve a significant target this year of over 34,500 and I intend for us to exceed that this year and to exceed it substantially.”