Micheál Martin has insisted Fianna Fáil’s return to government saw Ireland turn a corner on the housing crisis, as he pointed to “failures” to prioritise the issue under the previous Fine Gael-led administration.
The Fianna Fáil leader claimed Ireland had missed opportunities to tackle the crisis because of “past failures”.
The Tánaiste was referencing recent revelations from former Fine Gael housing minister Eoghan Murphy, who said he felt he did not receive sufficient support from government colleagues for his plans to address acute housing shortages.
Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien took on the housing ministry when his party entered the historic coalition government with Fine Gael and the Green Party in 2020.
Mr Martin referenced Mr Murphy’s comments in his new memoir about his time as housing minister between 2017 and 2020 as he attended the annual Fianna Fáil commemoration of Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown cemetery in Co Kildare on Sunday.
In a sign of heightening tensions between the two main coalition partners ahead of the general election, Mr Martin’s remarks drew a robust response from Fine Gael minister of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who insisted Fianna Fáil was responsible for a housing crash during the period of the financial crisis.
Their comments on the housing debate came as the latest opinion poll suggested Fine Gael was on course to emerge from the election as the most popular party.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks survey had Fine Gael out in front on 26 per cent, with Fianna Fáil on 20 per cent, Sinn Féin on 18% and independents the next largest grouping on 16 per cent.
The same poll suggested Mr Martin and Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris are the two most popular leaders in Ireland. Mr Harris was top with a 52 per cent approval rating while Mr Martin had 48 per cent.
After referring to Mr Murphy’s remarks in his address in Bodenstown, Mr Martin expanded when speaking to reporters after the event.
“He (Mr Murphy) was basically saying that he didn’t get the support he required to take more radical measures in housing, and he felt he was being held back,” he said.
“I think this government took a different approach. We established the high-powered Cabinet subcommittee, which I chaired, and we really set down to all of the secretary generals in the key government departments that housing is the number one issue facing our society, and it requires sustained commitment and momentum.
“And, also, allied to that, we developed and created probably the most radical reform of our planning code, certainly the most comprehensive, to become an engine also for housing development.”
He said the current government also passed the legislation to underpin the already launched Land Development Agency (LDA).
The Tánaiste added: “There is resistance sometimes within the system, and I think Eoghan Murphy reveals that, not just political but also resistance within the public services at times to certain models of approach.
“The market hadn’t worked in the previous number of years, so that was clear.
“And so what you are now witnessing over the last four and half years, notwithstanding the pandemic which did hold us back, is a much stronger state intervention in housing, with the result that we have turned a corner, although we need to build far more houses than we’re currently building.
“But, nonetheless, there’s been substantial progress. We need to do more.”
Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, Ms Carroll MacNeill, claimed Mr Martin was trying to claim credit for the LDA when it was actually Mr Murphy who established it in the previous government.
Referring to similar comments by Mr Martin about Fianna Fáil’s role in the Land Development Agency in the Sunday Independent, she told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics Programme: “Fianna Fáil have a backdrop of creating a housing crash.
“And it was the Land Development Agency which Eoghan created. So, I see what Micheál Martin is saying about that, but it was Eoghan Murphy, Paschal Donohoe and Leo Varadkar who set that up.”
She added: “There are a couple of facts which Micheál has maybe gotten wrong this morning in relation to the Land Development Agency. It was Fine Gael who established it. It was Fine Gael who capitalised it.”
Sinn Féin TD for Meath East Darren O’Rourke, who was also appearing on The Week In Politics, questioned why both parties were trying to claim credit for “failed housing policy”.
“We’re in the perverse situation here where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are arguing over who’s responsible for an absolutely failed housing policy,” he said.
“Where they’ll deliver less houses this year than they did last year, and the targets that they have are far, far less than what is actually required.
“Sinn Féin has set out, and the people will have an option and opportunity to vote, on a real alternative when it comes to housing.
“We’ve set out a clear plan to deliver 300,000 homes over five years, including affordable homes, social homes and cost rental.”
