Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has reassured critics that the objectives for providing social and affordable homes will be fulfilled in 2024, despite challenges drawn from the figures revealed for the first quarter of the year. Mr O’Brien unveiled the yearly performance of the construction of social and affordable dwellings, showing that 3,270 units were completed, divided into 720 new houses and the remaining included in initiatives such as the the Housing Assistance Payment or counselling scheme (2,175) and Lease Housing scheme (375). Among these, only 158 properties were actually constructed from scratch. The government projected to erect 9,300 such homes in 2024.
A total of over 1,000 “affordable housing supports” were furnished in the early part of 2024, with 32 provided through the council buying plan and 24 as cost rentals. The government has set a target of 6,400 new housing units under these categories for 2024.
Both Ivana Bacik from the Labour Party and Cian O’Callaghan from the Social Democrats voiced concerns over the delivery rate, with Bacik asserting the government would “utterly fail” to meet its housing promises based on current figures and O’Callaghan terming it a minuscule contribution to the required target. Eoin Ó Broin from Sinn Féin acknowledged the usually higher pace of construction in the latter part of the year but expressed concerns about the low achievement rate within the first quarter.
However, Mr O’Brien responded by asserting that construction tends to concentrate in the final part of a year and cited that 83 per cent of the previous year’s housing targets were accomplished in the last two quarters of 2023.
He stated, “This year, we’re not only on track to reach our social housing goals, but we’re also set to achieve our increased targets for affordable housing. We currently have in excess of 26,000 social homes in assorted stages of construction.”
Under the governance of this administration, he stated, the development of affordable housing rose from “nil” to 4,011 last year, and it is projected to exceed “6,000 this year”.
During the meeting, the ministers deliberated over seven housing-related memos, and the Cabinet received updates on the progress of the Housing for All strategy. This plan has an overarching goal of constructing 33,450 new homes, inclusive of private residences, by 2024.
Taoiseach Simon Harris confirmed that almost 52,000 new residences have begun construction since the culmination of last May, expressing confidence that the goal set for 2024 would be surpassed. He described this development as ‘substantial progress,’ providing a strong foundation for future scaling up to satisfy looming demand.