As a matter of urgency, we now need the former housing minister, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to appear in the Dáil to answer questions about this fiasco
There is a desperate blame game in government to evade responsibility for misleading the public about the number of homes that would be delivered last year, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Rory Hearne.
“In an interview on RTE radio this morning, Tánaiste Simon Harris laid the blame for the government misleading the public on housing figures squarely on the shoulders of former Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien.
“The Tánaiste said the three leaders of the last coalition received a letter from the former housing minister, which stated that Ireland would “come close” to hitting 40,000 homes and said the Minister should not have provided that figure.
“While the Tánaiste is correct that the housing minister should not have inflated the number of homes that were due to be delivered, his reliance on one letter from the Minister to evade his own responsibility for repeatedly regurgitating the figure is not credible.
“There were multiple reports, from respected institutions like the CSO, ESRI and Central Bank, which were warning that housing delivery would be nowhere near 40,000 homes. These reports came after the Minister had written the letter.
“The fig leaf of the Minister’s letter is no excuse to have made a commitment to deliver 40,000 homes last year a central feature of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s electioneering.
“The reality is the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste must have been well aware that the number of homes delivered last year would be nowhere near 40,000. This fanciful figure was deliberately used to fool the electorate by falsely claiming the government’s housing plan was working.
“As a matter of urgency, we now need the former housing minister, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to appear in the Dáil to answer questions about this fiasco.”