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GOVERNMENT MISSED THEIR housing target last year and the number of homes that were completed decreased, according to new figures by the Central Statistics Office.
A total of 30,330 new homes were built last year. The figure is 6.7% less than 2023 and just under 10,000 units less than what Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and Taoiseach Simon Harris promised voters would be completed last year.
O’Brien told reporters that completion rates would reach up to 40,000 or, at least, the “high thirties” last year.
The majority of homes, 16,200 dwellings, were properties built in estates (what the government refers to as ‘housing schemes’). The completion of these types of properties increased by 4.6% last year.
Every other type of dwelling, apartments and single houses, fell last year. Over 8,760 apartments were completed last year, down by 24.1% compared to 2023, while 5,367 single dwellings were completed – a 2.2% decrease.
Housing experts at Bank of Ireland said the “surprise decline” of completions in the fourth quarter of last year – a period that O’Brien said completions would increase – was due to a volatile apartment market.
The bank still believe that figures could bounce back, as the number of housing units that began construction in 2024 increased to 60,240. Its economic research unit said that figure represents “rapid expansion” in the construction industry.
For that reason, Bank of Ireland still feel confident that their original prediction, of 45,000 completions in 2025, can remain unchanged. Experts noted, however, that there is still “exceptional uncertainty” around all predictions.
The incoming government has committed to ramp up construction in Ireland to build 300,000 homes by the end of 2030.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin called out Harris, Martin and O’Brien for continually promising voters that 40,000 homes would be built. He said that the incoming government’s planning is “in tatters”.
“Their public and private housing targets for last year were too low,” Ó Broin said in a statement. “The government has not only missed their social and affordable housing targets but also their overall target.”
Social Democrats’ housing spokesperson Rory Hearn described the figures as “shocking”.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have consistently demonstrated that they are completely incapable of hitting their own housing targets – targets that were already unambitious to begin with,” he said.
Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice also called into question the “misleading” promises given by members of government. He said it was unacceptable for them to “hide the truth” from voters given the crises in housing and homelessness.
O’Brien or the Department of Housing have yet to respond to the figures published today. The Journal has contacted a spokesperson for comment.
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If the money and manpower going into the human trafficking scheme was redirected towards building for the workers in the country we would be meeting or exceeding targets. Immigration is up, building is down. Wonder what that will mean?
@Freda Peeple: First thing to do should be to close the door to asylum seekers like Poland did. Asylum seekers will be granted status after 3 months under the new fast track processing system which makes them eligible for council housing and HAP, competing with Irish people for what scarce housing is available.
@Staker Wallace: Yes that’s a great idea, it’s absolutely awful for anyone without a house knowing their taxes are being funnelled to fast track accommodation and secure services for people who have nothing to do with Ireland. Rocking up to a country with an immense housing crisis shows an entitlement we an do without. As it stands supply will never meet demand. 80k members in various “Pakistani in Ireland” Facebook groups alone… all on their way soon .
@Staker Wallace: We should also follow Spain and impose a 100% tax on non EU purchasers.
It’s quite clear that residential properties are being bought up, with “hot” money, by foreigners who don’t even view them apart from some student livestreaming a viewing.
Yet that fool of a housing minister was blabbering on about how they are building more homes than ever and was still voted back in, the mind boggles
@Kieran Ferrett: FF/FG and their supporters have only a passing interest in the sharp end of the housing crises…. for now.
@Kieran Ferrett: voted back by the gold fishes , 3 seconds memory, what can you expect.
@Kieran Ferrett: Well there was 88.4k homes completed in 2006 so they’re a looooong way off that.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sector? seems to be a shocking culture? incompetent management? is it at the direction of the ministers/Dept of finance?: yeah, that worked out fine
They easily forget their promises to the Irish people and that minister for housing should have been sacked hasn’t a clue
@Pauline Cahill: or lies they spinned about the targets been achieved before the elections
It’s ok the new government will fix it
Unlike that last shower of boyos
There’s only one thing for it, lads. You’ll have to vote SUPER HARD next time.
@Chop Chop: I think the public will never forget they went to bed with Lowry… one way or the other.
@Louis Jacob: we can only hope…
But when you see how previous elections went, I won’t hold my breath
@Louis Jacob: no, they won’t. Quite the contrary: in his own constituency he’s standing will go up, as a powerbroker
@Louis Jacob: You’d be surprised what the public is willing to forget/ignore.
@Louis Jacob: We’ve already forgotten about Mr Golfgate himself Noel Grealish and the Ceann Comhairle’s comments on asylum seekers when she was in FG.
This fall in the numbers being built has been predicted by a number of interested parties over the last year or so because we simply don’t have enough builders.
And it matters not one bit which parties were elected to the government, none of them were going to magic them up.
The building crisis is here to stay for a decade at least, probably more.
@P. J.: Could we not swop all the recently arrived Astro physisists Neurosurgeons, Civil engineers and Computer programmers for carpenters and bricklayers to build homes?
@Brian Hunt: hey Brian! Nail on head, I’m a builder and NONE of the lads on sites are from the Middle East or Africa. We need skilled hard workers, What’s worse is a lot of the Eastern European lads I know are upping sticks and heading home. Cost of living and worries about Ireland future demographics are the main reasons.
@Freda Peeple: builder? You’re still eating Lego lol
@pee wee: Hard to believe isn’t it? Work is a concept lost of a specimen like yourself. I have a company, staff, a home, 2 cars. 9 vans… Your mother drank away all your prospects during those difficult 9 months.
@Freda Peeple: yes and you have loads of properties as well, Doe lol
@pee wee: It’s sad seeing other people doing well from your mams box room, looking out the window in between trolling and peddling :)
@pee wee: One property, and I’m going halves with my bro on an apartment soon. These are all things you could have done if you mastered more than one tool
@Freda Peeple: you’re still in your ma’s box room, she still cooks your meals and washes your clothes lol
@Freda Peeple: “Your mother drank away all your prospects during those difficult 9 months”. Absolutely savage. The best put down I’ve heard in a long time. Well done sir.
Darragh O’Brien has done a runner to a different department now after his few years of non performance. He was banging on just before the election about how they were going to hit nearly 40k builds for 2024. So reality had walked in and it’s just over 30k. Almost 7% less than in 23’. They won’t care now of course as they’ve been re-elected for another 5 years. They are probably laughing about it while negotiating with Michael Lowry. It’s all very depressing but you come to realise that not only will they even make a dent in the housing issues, they don’t even want to. The way things are suit too many.
All, lads working down in Gotham City ( The Docks ) have to sleep in their vans or leave Norn Iron in the middle of the night to get to work as there is no accommodation according to Daft…
That last government was terrible on housing. Hopefully this new, totally different government will be better.
Congratulations once again to the voters who put this shower of bstards back in.
Fast track the legal immigrants’ papers and get them jobs on sites, pay them fairly, and help them set up a life for themselves here. Win/win.
@Iano C: And where will they live? As someone else here once pointed out, what you’re describing is a pyramid scheme.
@Chop Chop: it’s such a frustrating problem right? We need more skilled labour to do the construction jobs, yet we can’t house the construction workers we bring into the country. And if the government prioritises them in any way, I’m downright sure there’ll be another riot, even though we need the labour. I’m trying to sit here and come up with some kind of policy to stand for and am just scratching my head tbh.
Same story different year.
60k houses started, 30k completed (wonder how many of those were modular houses for Ukrainians and how many were tents for fakugees.
@Jim:
They should tell us how many private and how many social properties were built as well
And yet they’re back in power again
Ireland Rewarding mediocrity as per usual
Ouch.!!!
Bank of Ireland are wrong. They confuse the difference between a commencement notice and a start of a house construction.
Commencement notices are up in 2024 in order to avail of an exemptions of certain government fees / financial levy. A lot of these units will never get to site.
Here’s a graph showing completions quarter on quarter since 2016 for single homes, apartments, and housing schemes.
https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/buildingandconstruction/newdwellingcompletions/
@honey badger: Cute.. here’s a graph showing homeless figures during the same period.
https://www.focusireland.ie/knowledge-hub/latest-figures/
@Brian: It’s mad that homeless figures increase as immigration increases when the opposition parties say there is no correlation between the 2. Also there was a drop in homeless figures during covid, a time when immigration was at a low point.
Big shocker there, the numbers were a complete lie.
So all the lies they told before the election. They should be held accountable for it.
Don’t worry James Brown is in the house, ready to rock it( literally)
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