A report from the Housing Commission underlining the necessity of a "radical strategic reset" of the State’s housing policy is a "damning indictment" of the Government, Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin has said.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson said the report, which was submitted to Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien earlier this month, essentially accused successive governments of failing to treat housing as a priority.
In the report seen by RTÉ, the commission pointed to "ineffective decision-making and reactive policymaking, where risk aversion dominates".
It called for a "radical strategic reset of housing policy", and estimated an underlying housing deficit of up to 256,000 homes across the country.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, speaking on his way into Cabinet on Tuesday morning, said the Government had established the Housing Commission because the Coalition "wants to come to work every day and get the best possible ideas in terms of how we can do more to address the housing challenge that we're living through".
"I'm very proud of the work that is underway in relation to housing. When my party first came to government in 2011, fewer than 7000 homes were built that year. Last year, more than 32,000 homes, this year so far, we've seen over 30,000 homes go to commence construction already this year, and we're only at the start of the month of May, so there are encouraging signs."
Mr Harris said supply was "ramping up", and that was why a decision was made to extend the waiver on development levies.
"It's why we've invested more money in the First Home scheme, and it's why we asked the Housing Commission to come forward with more ideas.
"What I want the people of Ireland to know is that the Government will take very seriously these recommendations, because we're in the business of looking for more ideas, more novel approaches, more innovative ways to continue to increase housing supply."
Mr Ó Broin said he could not remember "language as critical as this produced by an independent body".
"And this isn't just a report, these people are involved in the delivery of housing every day – the country's leading experts and practitioners, and what they're telling us is the Government's housing plan isn't working," he added.
"They're accusing both this Government and its predecessors of failing to treat housing as a critical social and economic priority, and they also go on to say that housing has one of the highest levels of public expenditure, yet one of the poorest outcomes...
"For the Government to now, in the dying months of their term of office, to start saying they're now going to start looking at this is really too little, too late."
Earlier, on Newstalk Breakfast, Children’s Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon said resources are not being provided, and the State is not planning ahead.
"We're not doing as good as we possibly can. We're not providing resources, we're not planning ahead.
"If we go back simply to housing in 2016, when we did the Rebuilding Ireland strategy, the target at that stage was 47,000 social houses by 2021. If we had achieved that target alone, we would be in a different place now.
"We had continuous plans, continuous reports, continuous promises and lots of outrage, but very little actions that really benefit the children on the ground in 20 different areas."
