Housing should be top priority for new government, poll finds

No sooner had the last ballot been counted when yet another political survey was under way. Unusually enough this time around, property portal myhome.ie was posing the questions.

It conducted a survey of 1,600 people that found 78 per cent of respondents were unhappy with the outcome of the election.

Not surprising too that health and housing – at 46 per cent and 25 per cent respectively – were cited as the issues that should be the top priorities for the next government to address.

When asked whether the acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny should resign as leader of Fine Gael, 34 per cent said he should step aside in the next year, while 45 per cent believed he should resign immediately.

The Minister for Health emerged as a clear favourite to replace Kenny, with 45 per cent of respondents opting for Leo Varadkar, nearly three times more than his nearest challenger, the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney on 16 per cent.

When presented with a range of options on the shape the new government should take, 35 per cent opted for another election while 26 per cent chose a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition.

The third choice was a coalition of FG and smaller parties, while a Fianna Fáil government supported by Fine Gael was the least popular option at 5 per cent.

Online survey

The online survey of 1,600 people was conducted between Wednesday, March 2nd and Wednesday March 9th.

Managing director of myhome.ie Angela Keegan said it wasn't a surprise that housing had emerged as a priority issue because of the supply problem.

“The new government really needs to act swiftly if more time is not to be lost. Several organisations have called for a senior minister of housing, planning and construction to be appointed and we would support such a move.”