Fianna Fáil Housing Spokesperson Darragh O’Brien today launched a detailed analysis of Re-Building Ireland based on PQs assessing each individual action outlined in the plan.
The figures compiled show that out of the 84 promised actions set out in the plan, over half, or 52 per cent, have failed.
Deputy O’Brien said: “Last week Fine Gael launched their manifesto. Out of €8.7bn of spending and a whopping €2.8bn of tax cuts they committed and costed an extra total of €0 to building housing. They have not allocated an additional euro beyond current pre- committed spending levels to building homes. The Fine Gael manifesto is clear. The same plan, the same people and the same money.”
“The failure of Re-Building Ireland is startling. that have been implemented have been minor in scale and impact. These specific failed policies are laid out in detail in the attached document. The document comes after the Fine Gael manifesto did not commit any additional money to capital spending on housing.
“Homelessness have increased by 3,206 or 49% since Re-Building Ireland was launched. Re-Building Ireland set a target of Doubling of output to deliver over 25,000 units per annum on average over the period of the Plan 2017-2021. It has reached just 72% of that target with an average of 17,992 per annum for 2017-2019.
“Rents have increased by 30% since Re-Building Ireland was launched according to the RTB. Re-Building Ireland did not reverse the 2011 government decision to remove Home Ownership as a policy goal. Ireland’s Home Ownership rates is the lowest since 1971 and is now below the EU average.
“Fine Gael have clearly abandoned addressing the housing crisis by deciding not to invest any more money into solving it. In contrast Fianna Fáil has a six-part plan to get Ireland building again including an ambitious €250m SSIA scheme for First Time Buyers. We are committed to building 50,000 social homes and 50,000 affordable homes by 2025. We are ramping up spending by €2.2bn overall in comparison to Fine Gael’s €200m. We are also slashing red tape on local authorities to drive on building levels,” concluded Deputy O’Brien.
