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So Fine Gael say that they are committed to solving the housing crisis and on the surface of it, the charts are finally heading in the right direction. This one from the CSO has some impressive and colourful squiggles. Taken in isolation, you might think we were going in the right direction.
Statistics taken in isolation can sound very impressive. Construction started on a record 12,000 new homes between January and March 2024, according to the government. Construction started, so they can’t be lived in yet but it sounds great as a single statistic.
The upward curve in the chart above is far less impressive when you take a look at a longer time frame. In fact, when Fine Gael took over in government in 2011, there was no housing crisis. There were waiting lists, for sure, but record homelessness and children living in hotel rooms wasn’t a thing.
In 2011, when Fine Gael came to power, new house completions were at a historic low. In 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 – six years – they delivered little to nothing in terms of housing policy. Then during the minority government from 2017-2020 there was a slight improvement and again a slight improvement in recent years. Still nowhere near the peak of the Celtic Tiger era.
Of course, instead of taking responsibility, the usual excuses are rolled out – “because of Covid“, the war in Ukraine, the dog ate my homework! Any talk of Fine Gael solving the housing crisis is wide of the mark. At best they allowed the crisis to happen.
So how big a priority is it to solve the housing crisis? Given the level of homelessness, astronomical rents and the amount of professionals having to move back in with their parents, you’d think it’d be top priority.
So throw the kitchen sink at fixing it then, right? Nope, sorry.
It’s difficult to argue that the government is leaving no stone unturned in trying to solve the housing crisis. As a % of GDP, we invested 3.3% in new dwellings in 2023, which is slightly more than half the European average. But we found money for modular units for immigrants, and ridiculous bike stands and security sheds and we’re still pumping money into the black hole that is the Children’s Hospital. The housing crisis is not a priority for the current coalition parties.
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