SINN FÉIN’S HOUSING spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin did not hold back in his blistering criticism of the Government’s long-delayed housing plan during Leaders’ Questions today. 

The plan, which was published this morning and sets out the roadmap for housing policy for the next five years, was described as “a punch in the gut to all those without a home of their own” by the Sinn Féin TD. 

The new plan does away with annual targets and instead aims to deliver a minimum of 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.

Ó Broin noted that the new plan does not increase funding or targets for new “genuinely affordable homes” and accused the Government of “brazenly trying to rebrand unaffordable private homes as affordable”.

“The only promise that you are keeping in this plan is your promise to attack renters,” Ó Broin said, noting that from March of next year, when the new rental rules take effect, renters will continue to face “rip off rents for the privilege of being forced to live in smaller and darker apartments”.

Responding to Ó Broin’s criticism, Tánaiste Simon Harris said it is “not true that there is nothing new in the plan”. 

He pointed to an investment fund to help “de-risk” the development of sites in towns and cities, and a plan to allow developers to build their own wastewater treatment plants as two such new measures.

“We had the election, your proposals were rejected. We’re getting on with the job,” the Tánaiste told Ó Broin.

Simon Harris today in the Dáil.

Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan was also critical of today’s housing plan, telling the Dáil: “I’ve never seen any government take so long to come up with so little”. 

He said a “minor miracle” would be needed for the Government to achieve its target of 300,000 new homes by 2030 and claimed it had “shielded” itself from accountability by removing annual targets for new homes. 

Sheehan added that the new plan is “mainly just a PR exercise of repackaging existing supports or renaming them”. 

Cian O'Callaghan in the Dáil today.

Similarly, Social Democrats finance spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan dubbed today’s plan a “recipe for failure”. 

“Adults are stuck in their childhood bedrooms, putting their lives on hold year after year. The mental toll this is taking is immense.

“Stress, anxiety and hopelessness are becoming the norm for people who are stuck in this housing limbo. People’s lives are being ruined,” O’Callaghan said.

O’Callaghan criticised the Government for giving billions of euros away in tax subsidies to developers without linking them to affordability measures for renters or buyers. 

“Last year, the ceo of Glenveagh Properties, one of the largest developers in Ireland, saw his salary balloon by 80% to €2.7mn euro. That’s where some of these subsidies are going, to these outrageous levels of remuneration,” he said. 

In response, the Tánaiste maintained that today’s plan is “a good plan” and only one part “of the jigsaw”.