Sinn Féin has accused the Minister for Housing of failing to provide a progress report on the 3,550 affordable homes the Government pledged to deliver last year.
Pearse Doherty said that a government housing progress report published last week contained “very little” information about the thousands of affordable homes to be delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the update on the affordable properties will be published in the coming weeks.
A housing report published last week revealed that there were 32,695 new homes completed in 2023, exceeding the target of 29,000 set out in the Government’s housing plan.
Mr Doherty said that housing report contained “44 glossy pages, lots of words, lots of numbers, but very little information in relation to the delivery of homes for which the government is directly responsible”.
“Incredibly, Minister O’Brien failed to provide a progress update on the 3,550 genuinely affordable homes to rent or to buy that your government promised to deliver through local authorities and approved housing bodies last year,” he added.
“Not one word in the report about it, complete and utter silence.
“You can see why this rings alarm bells Taoiseach, because since you came to office or since this government came to office, your government has missed its affordable housing targets, not just one year, but every single year for four years in a row now the targets have been missed.
“The targets were far, far too low. The lack of pace, the lack of ambition, the lack of urgency to deliver affordable houses has serious consequences for people.
“Thousands of adults who want to strike out on their own are living at home with their parents.
“They’re in their 30s, or in their 40s and as we know young people are leaving in their droves for a chance of a better life, flocking to places like Australia.”
Mr Varadkar said: “I don’t have those numbers available yet, but I think they will be available in the next couple of weeks.
“What I want to acknowledge is that rents are very high for far too many people in this country and a lot of people are waiting far too long to be in a position to buy their own home.
“It is something that government is helping with. Take the rent credit for example, worth 750 euros per renter per year this year and 500 euros last year.
“A lot of people claiming that helping them with the rent.
“Of course, we’ve the new form of cost rental housing, a form of public housing, which allows people to rent more affordable rates, and that is really taking off now.
“It’s proving very popular and we’re going to see a lot more of that being built around the country in the coming years.
“When it comes to first time buyers, helping them with schemes that you want to abolish, like Help to Buy for example, like First Home and that is making a huge difference.
“We saw figures out only in the last couple of days, which showed that the number of first time buyers drawing down first mortgage is at its highest level since 2007.
“That’s an extraordinary change and where we were only a few years ago.
“In 2007, I was in my 20s we are actually back to that now.
“Those are the kind of numbers that we’re now seeing people buying their first home.”
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said Ireland’s housing record continues to “dominate every aspect of Irish life”.
She said that homeless figures show that 4,000 children are recorded as homeless, while Ryanair has bought up multiple homes for its workforce.
“We’re seeing the health of renters and local authority tenants suffering due to poor conditions like mould and damp, with little action or follow up from inspectors,” Ms Bacik added.
“It is a core function and a duty of the state to vindicate the rights of everyone who lives here to have decent secure and affordable housing.
“But in allowing this housing crisis to deepen and to worsen, your government is failing to fulfil that duty and people across the country are worse off because of it.”
