TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has defended comments he made yesterday in relation to homelessness and said members of the opposition have “misrepresented” what he said.

The Taoiseach has come under fire for saying that lots of people in emergency accommodation “refuse multiple offers to go on social housing”.

While giving an update on the government’s housing for all policy yesterday the Taoiseach defended the government’s action on tackling the housing crisis and said he measures success on things that can be controlled rather than homelessness figures alone.

Figures from the Department of Housing show that homelessness figures have topped their previous record, with 12,411 people in emergency accommodation in May.

The Taoiseach said “of course” one of the measures success will be based on is homelessness but added: “it would be just simply inaccurate to say that the government has control over things like the number of family breakdowns that occur, the number of people who are new arrivals who seek emergency accommodation.

“I work with a lot of people who are in emergency accommodation in my constituency.

“There are lots of people who are in emergency accommodation and who refuse multiple offers to go on social housing.

“It’s a much more complicated picture than people would like to make out,” Varadkar said.

‘Hurt and anger’

Responding to this statement during leaders’ questions in the Dáil today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the Taoiseach’s comments caused “real hurt and anger” for those caught up in the housing crisis.

“The housing crisis has dominated life in Ireland for over a decade now and so many people struggle to put a secure, affordable roof over their heads,” Doherty said.

He said the Taoiseach’s comments “seeks to shift the blame” from the government’s housing policies “onto the victims”.

“It creates the impression that those faced with homelessness are choosing to be in that situation and that’s not true for those living in emergency accommodation or indeed for the thousands of others who are sofa surfing or back in the box room in their parents’ homes,” Doherty said.

In response to this, the Taoiseach said O’Doherty misrepresented his comments.

“I’ve never sought to blame anyone, for the housing crisis or for homelessness. Not the people who experience it, nor the people who tried to help them, whether it’s government or local authorities or NGOs or anyone else,” Varadkar said.

He added that “at long last” real progress is being achieved on housing and pointed to the fact 30,000 new homes were built in Ireland last year and said although it is “not enough” it is something that Doherty should acknowledge.

The Taoiseach’s comments were also condemned by Social Democrats’ leader Holly Cairnes who described them as “disgusting” and “beneath” the Taoiseach.

In response, the Taoiseach said he was happy to rephrase his comments and accused Cairnes of populism.

“If I said ‘plenty’ or ‘lots of’ [people in emergency accommodation refusing social housing] I’m happy to use the term ‘some’,” the Taoiseach said.

“In some cases, people have been offered accommodation and have turned it down and there are people on the social housing list who are offered accommodation and have turned it down and sometimes they do for very good reasons.

“But to try to twist that and make out that somehow I’m blaming people for the housing crisis, that’s just fake. That’s populism. It’s misrepresentation and it’s beneath you,” Varadkar said.