Sinn Fein TD slapped down on housing claims

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar made the claim as he was challenged by Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty on the coalition’s record on housing. In Dail exchanges during Leaders’ Questions, Mr Doherty said the government’s Housing for All strategy was failing, with house prices, rental costs and homeless numbers at record highs.

“Is it not now time to accept that nearly three years in government that your plan is failing because house prices have gone up, rents have gone up, homelessness is going up,” he said. “I don’t know what measure you’re using to measure its success but in my mind, that is failure.

“There’s a whole generation locked out. There’s a whole generation desperate.” Mr Varadkar acknowledged there was a need for “way more housing in Ireland”.

“We probably have a deficit of 70,000 to 80,000 homes,” he said. “If we could build them in the morning, if we could build them overnight, we would,” he said.

“There’s no lack of money being put into this. There’s no lack of political will ...

“But we’re dealing with real constraints – the availability of labour, the availability of materials, the availability of service sites, and no matter who’s in government, they’re going to have to deal with those real constraints.”

Mr Doherty highlighted that Fine Gael had been in power longer than the current coalition administration. “Tanaiste, you’ve had 12 years to deal with those constraints,” he said.

Mr Varadkar countered by focusing on Sinn Fein’s record in the Stormont Executive. “There’s no party in this House that’s been in office on this island more than yours,” he said.

“You’re 20 years in office on and off in Northern Ireland, with a Sinn Fein finance minister, Sinn Fein housing minister … “And what’s happening in Northern Ireland? House prices are going up, rents are going up, to use your own figures 20,000 people are homeless.

“So, if we’ve failed, surely you’ve failed worse and for longer.”