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Irish Examiner
20-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Government accused of trying to 'conceal' data on housing starts due to funding delays for projects
The Government has been accused of burying statistics for housing starts due to a slowdown in getting projects approved and funded. 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.
The Journal
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Minister says local authorities need to step up as government misses social housing target
THE GOVERNMENT HAS fallen short of its social housing target for 2024, prompting the housing minister to call on local authorities to 'do everything possible' to meet their targets this year. New figures released today show there were 7,126 affordable homes and 10,585 social homes delivered in 2024. Around 7,800 of the social homes were new-builds. The government met its target for affordable housing but its social housing delivery fell short of its goal of 12,930. At the same time, as of November 2024, 59,941 households were assessed as being qualified for and in need of social housing support. It marks an increase of 1,117 (1.9%) year-on-year. Minister for Housing James Browne has said that he would expect local authorities to take action to meet their targets this year and that he will meet with the chief executives of each to discuss their targets and plans. 'The downturn in private sector building output raised concerns that there would be a similar hit to social housing delivery,' Browne said in a statement. 'It appears from these figures that, while there certainly has been an impact, it has not been as pronounced as may have been feared with 7,871 new-build social homes delivered across 2024,' he said. 'It is clear however that to ensure the sustainability and scalability of the pipeline, we need to do our best to insulate the supply of social housing from any volatility in private supply. The best way to do this is to have local authorities delivering new-build homes on local authority lands.' Advertisement The government came under fire in recent months for missing its overall 2024 housing target of 40,000 homes by a margin of 10,000. The outgoing government has said in the run-up to the election that the target would be met but subsequent revelations showed ministers had been warned beforehand that it would be missed. The figures published today paint a picture of various types of housing delivery in 2024, especially in the last three months of the year. 5,751 new build social homes were delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies in the final quarter of the year, while 80 new construction schemes (1,489 homes) were added to the pipeline. Over 2,550 affordable housing supports were delivered and around 480 First Home scheme approvals were issued in quarter four, bringing the total number of approvals in 2024 to 2,851. There were 309 new Local Authority Affordable Purchase homes recorded in the last three months of 2024. The number of cost rental homes from Approved Housing Bodies doubled in 2024, with 1,200 delivered last year. Browne said that reaching the country's overall annual targets is 'dependent on each local authority meeting their target and we cannot afford for any individual local authority to fall behind'. 'I also intend to begin publishing the delivery achieved by all local authorities – as set against their targets – to allow for greater engagement with the delivery of new-build social housing at a more local level, right where these homes are needed,' he said. 'Publishing such statistics on a quarterly basis is essential to our commitment to transparency with the public.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
