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Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne stated that the Government made “a genuine mistake” in its claim that 40,000 homes would be built in 2024, but that they weren’t trying to be deceptive.
Recently released CSO figures reveal that a total of 30,330 homes were built in 2024 – a decrease of 6.7% on 2023, despite the Government’s repeated election claim that they would build 40,000 houses last year.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne radio program today, Byrne conceded that this was a “mistake”.
“Yes, we got the figures wrong around housing,” Byrne said, adding that the Government was “aspiring” to build more houses than were actually delivered.
“It wasn’t a case of trying to deceive anybody. Housing is the Government’s number one priority,” he said.
“There were reasons as to why last year there were a number of apartment complexes for instance which were due to be completed and for a variety of reasons didn’t get completed during 2024.
“But if you look at the pipeline of housing that’s coming now, we are seeing significant developments.”
He added that the “critical” point was that people seeking to buy a house had “placed faith in the Government” to deliver that over the coming years.
However, during the same radio program, Sinn Féin Housing Spokesman Eoin Ó Broin TD pushed back on this, claiming that the amount of housing being built was insufficient and that prices were continuing to rise.
“The targets that [the Government] have set out, both global targets for all new housing but also within social and affordable housing, are far too low,” he said.
“They’re not just lower than what I believe is necessary – they’re lower than what the Housing Commission, the Government’s own independent commission, recommended last year, a report that the Government has completely ignored and isn’t in the Programme for Government.”
He also rejected the idea that social housing waiting lists are falling, saying that a housing agency report had showed they are, in fact, rising.
“The solutions that are required to increase and accelerate both public and private housing are there,” Ó Bróin said.
“They’ve been written down, they’ve been published, and this Government is ignoring them.”
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