TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR was accused of being “smug and self-congratulatory” during Leaders’ Questions this afternoon, with the Government and Opposition trading barbs over new social housing figures.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik made the accusation after Varadkar said that more social housing had been built under a Fianna Fáil housing minister than when Labour held the brief, telling the Dáil that only 400 houses had been built during that time.
It comes after the Department of Housing released figures detailing that 7,433 new build social homes were completed in 2022, below the original target of 9,000 and the revised target of 8,000.
The Journal originally reported earlier this year that the Government would miss their overall social housing targets.
During Leaders’ Questions, Bacik said that Varadkar was “point scoring” and that he had “reached a new low”.
“It’s all very well smirking and being smug and self congratulatory. That’s not going to help the families approaching me and approaching our public representatives from Government parties and Opposition parties, who have nowhere to tell people to go because there are no homes available in our communities.
“No affordable homes, no homes to rent, no homes for sale. That is a failure of your Government.
“It’s a testament to the failed policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and your overreliance on a private sector and a market that has patently failed to deliver the homes that are needed.”
In response, Varadkar said that Labour “simply can’t have it both ways”.
“You can’t challenge me, my party and my coalition colleagues on our record and then lose the rag when somebody asks about yours.
“That’s pretty low in my view, if you’re willing to criticise somebody else’s record, you have to at least be able to defend your own.
“You’re not willing to do that and I think that’s very, very disappointing, but it is part of Labour’s crisis of confidence.
“You’ve lost confidence in yourselves and you don’t even know whether to be proud or ashamed of your last period in Government.”
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