Government accused of trying to 'conceal' data on housing starts due to funding delays for projects
Following a complaint to her office, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy is now investigating why the statistics on various social and affordable housing projects have not been provided after repeated attempts by Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin to get the information through parliamentary questions.
The impasse comes in the wake of the row over inflated figures provided by the outgoing government last year on housing starts for 2024.
The information being sought by Mr Ó Broin follows a report in the Irish Examiner last February that the funding of thousands of social and cost-rental homes was stalled since August 2024.
Days after the report, the Cabinet approved €450m for 3,000 such homes but it is unclear whether all the projects concerned have since received the funding.
Mr Ó Broin, the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson, has submitted parliamentary questions asking for the statistics four times in the last two months.
When the results were not forthcoming, he also twice emailed the secretary general of the Department of Housing looking for assistance and finally submitted his complaint to Verona Murphy's office.
The Ceann Comhairle then engaged with the department but she also found the answers provided to be unsatisfactory.
She is now investigating the matter.
'Given the background to this issue, I have decided to examine the issue under the terms of SO55 (Standing Order 55) — Adequacy of replies to questions and topical issues,' Ms Murphy wrote to Mr Ó Broin.
The housing projects affected by the stalling of funding are due to be built by Approved Housing Bodies.
Eoin Ó Broin claims the failure to answer his questions is a deliberate tactic. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
They had all received approval but a row between the Departments of Housing and Public Expenditure before last year's general election meant the funding was not provided.
On February 18, the Cabinet approved the €450m injection to meet the funding requirements for 3,000 homes under both categories to free up the backlog.
However, sources in the industry suggest not all of the approved projects — in both social and cost-rental — have since been provided with the funds.
Mr Ó Broin claims the failure to answer his questions is a deliberate tactic.
'There is huge frustration out there,' he says.
'Not only in how the backlog of projects is now being dealt with, but the overall processing times have got much longer and people are genuinely concerned about the delivery of projects that are in the pipeline.
I believe that the minister is trying to conceal the proper information coming into the public domain.
A spokesperson for the Department of Housing told the Irish Examiner the department 'is not aware of any projects that have either paused or stopped work due to funding approval timelines'.
He said an issue over approved projects not getting funding did not arise.
'In granting final approval to a project, the department is committing exchequer funding, therefore it does not arise that a project is approved but subsequently awaiting funding — the granting of a final funding approval is the de facto departmental allocation of funds.'
However, this is precisely what caused the five month backlog until last February.
Approved Housing Bodies had received approval from the Housing Agency, acting on behalf of the department, for at least 3,000 homes but the funding did not materialise until the Cabinet decision of February 18.
The latest figures for housing commencements showed 1,027 notices of commencement were issued during the month of April.
The number of commencements over the previous year was 42,316. This figure is believed not to reflect the actual numbers of homes being built as there was a waiver for development fees last year and projects would have issued commencement notices to avail of the waiver whether or not work actually got under way.
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