Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
TWO IRISH MEPS have been appointed as vice chairs to the EU’s special committee on housing.
Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty and Independent Ireland’s Ciaran Mullooly were confirmed as vice-chairs at the first meeting in Brussels this afternoon. The group of over 30 lawmakers are tasked with analysing the European housing market for one year.
While housing policy is outside of the EU’s remit of control, lawmakers this term recognised the need for political action to be taken at a European level after it was determined that there’s a continent-wide crisis.
The report will provide analysis and recommendations to the newly appointed European Housing Commissioner who will then move to introduce guidance to member states on how to monitor and regulate their housing market.
Speaking to The Journal after the meeting this evening, Doherty said it was her hope that she, and fellow Irish MEP Mullooly, can bring the country’s issues to the forefront of the debate in Europe through the committee.
She said that while many European countries are dealing with shortages in housing and have very different markets, the committee will allow the Irish politicians to get expert advice on the problems facing prospective buyers here.
“I want to see tangible recommendations that can be fulfilled by the European Commission,” Doherty said, adding that she hopes her vice-chair position will allow her to steer the direction of the committee so that it is not a “talk shop”.
Closer to home, a report published today by construction consultants Mitchell McDermott said the government could miss their housing target again - and only hit 35,000 new builds – in 2025.
Doherty said the committee should be focusing on the need to cut costs for builders, while delivering and insuring that houses are affordable. Alamy
Alamy
The estimate is based on a wide range of projections from the three main housing types – scheme housing (estates), one-off homes and apartments – and the figures from last year.
Doherty said the projection was “not surprising”, as the report indicated that the leading issue facing the delivery of new homes is increased costs in construction.
Advertisement
She said that there must be a focus on upskilling and recruitment in the construction industry, admitting that Ireland currently does not have the workforce for its 2030 target of 300,000 new homes.
“If we don’t finish them, then there is something else wrong,” she said, adding that “throughput” on recruitment must remain consistent for the government’s term.
The Dublin MEP said she is still confident Ireland will fulfil its 2025 housing targets set by the government, of which her party is a partner in, and took confidence in the commencement figures for the start of this year – totalling over 60,000.
Some MEPs, such as the committee’s chair, left-wing Italian MEP Irene Tinagli, want there to be a people-centred approach. Doherty agreed, but added that there must also be a focus on how to cut costs for builders and developers.
She said that those in the construction industry cannot be daubed with a “black brush” and that parliamentarians must recognise that inflation rates are increasing.
Mullooly said that he wants to find practical solutions to Ireland’s housing crisis. His party has promoted the increased use of modular and temporary housing arrangements as a medium-term solution to a short housing stock.
The Midlands North West MEP said he hopes the committee will help towards fixing many of the same housing issues that are happening at European level. He will meet constituents in Navan, Co Meath to speak with those impacted next month.
“We need answers that work for families and communities,” he said.
Tinagli told reporters in Brussels today that she would like the committee to have a people-centred approach to their report and place less of a focus on the ‘market’.
“The problem is different in EU countries but the problem is common,” she said, adding that the group would like to explore what the European institutions can do to make housing more affordable for families.
So far, the chair said, the group has been presented with “very worrying data” about the affordability of housing in Europe, leading to increased levels of impoverishment.
European political groups will meet to discuss what witnesses to invite to come before the committee in the coming weeks.
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.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
36 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Regina Doherty,a women who gave a character reference to a man who was convinced of defrauding the revenue,
Who went bankrupt owning revenue 60,000
Who got the Garda to question a woman at the airport because she didn’t like what that lady had said about her on twitter .
Great stuff
@Jon Balfour: Well you are not somebody Regina would want endorsing her. I have many problems with Regina and her party but, unlike your sad self, she has never called for the extermination of entire groups based on their ethnicity. That puts you in a very select group of psychopaths, of which RD would steer well clear
@Harry Paisley: Sums up the EU; appointing a woman who sat in government overseeing appallingly high levels of homelessness and families in ‘temporary’ accommodation, all the while waiting for developers to solve the housing problem here in Ireland. The rest of Europe stands no chance with a huckster like Doherty trying to solve their housing problem.
Glad those 2 involved in the theory test scam got jail time and hopefully the gardai catch the rest of the feckers and obviously someone on the inside involved.
@Maire Hicks: Very true Marie. Weird comments aren’t allowed on the article relating the sad passing of the brilliant Marianne Faithful, she led a fascinating life, may she R.I.P
Il give you a clue to the housing crisis if houses aren’t being built at the rate to house those in the country how will they house droves of people entering it? Many do not speak english entering so how will they contribute to the economy please explain someone?
@Darth O’Leary: That might work for him elsewhere. But being exposed in Ireland is but a temporary embarrassment at worst. In many cases it is major career boost as he himself is living proof.
Hopefully they can learn the Vienna Method of Social Housing. It works, and best of all after a number of years it not only have paid for itself but makes profits.
The one Green Party Policy that was good and they never said anything!
Instead the spent their time giving out to people and tell us to ride a bike!
Can’t we only build a maximum of 35000 homes a year anyway due to irish water not been up hook up any more than that until we upgrade the water infrastructure anyway? And how many homes a year can ESB handle?
Strange that there was no mention as to why the consultants report stated that the targets would be missed again. The main reason is that we have ran the investment funds from the country, you know the ones that were financing these building projects. This is exactly what the opposition want and the government gave into them rather than explain to people that without these funds we don’t have the money to build. Again ideology trumps practicality. Watch the housing crisis get worse over the next few years.
@The next small thing: foreign investors are building rental properties. People want to own their homes. Investors pay no tax on their rentals. They were buying built housing estates, renting them back to govt for 25yrs after which they are to be handed back. So the govt pays for the mortgage, maintaining the property for 25yrs and then gives it back! You couldn’t make it up. The should have CPO’d the whole lot. Same money out but no asset at the end.
150 rounds of drinks ordered at the Dáil's bars on the day TDs failed to elect a new Taoiseach
32 mins ago
674
10
Dublin
What exactly is 'affordable' housing ... and how much should it cost?
6 hrs ago
2.2k
Darndale
Discovery of human hand in yard of Dublin primary school not thought to be malicious
Updated
12 hrs ago
54.2k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say