An advertising campaign featuring a controversial video offering advice to those moving back in with their parents was “developed by young people”, the Department of Housing has said.
The video, which has been pilloried by social media users since it was shared by the department on its social media channels, makes suggestions about sharing household duties and establishing boundaries if someone is forced to return to their family home having lived outside it.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, a spokesman for the Department of Housing said it was not directly its campaign but was created by the Housing Agency and SpunOut, a youth information and support organisation, which developed and funded the campaign.
“This digital campaign was developed by young people, and is based on their experiences,” the spokesman said. “It has been deliberately created in a format and language that is engaging and age-appropriate and responds to key questions and issues young people have themselves raised - this is critical.”
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The spokesman added that the campaign “rightly acknowledges” the housing crisis and that many young people are struggling to find homes. “In that context the campaign offers the type of support most appropriate for this cohort of young people, and it is info they have asked for and shaped in the developed info pack and accompanying videos”.
He added that Minister for Housing James Browne wanted to “genuinely thank” the young people who had engaged with the campaign so far.
Later the department removed the video, saying the “welfare, privacy, and dignity of the young people involved in the campaign must be our highest priority”. A department spokeswoman said the video was taken down “at the young people’s request”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman said he thought the video was satire and “tone deaf”.
“The number of young people moving back home has doubled over the last decade to its highest level in some time because the Government’s housing policy is pushing up house prices, pushing up rents, pushing up homelessness, while at the same time failing to deliver social affordable homes," Eoin Ó Broin told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
Asked about the video on his way into cabinet on Tuesday morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there was a “need to avoid knee jerk reactions” to initiatives from organisations like SpunOut and the Housing Agency.
“The big issue is to provide more housing as fast as we possibly can, and that’s what we are doing. We have a specific target in mind in terms of homelessness this year, but also more broadly, in terms of getting more houses built as a result of the housing plan we published.”
Mr Ó Broin said he was not criticising the “real young people” featured in the video. “My criticism is of the Government and of the department.
“Let’s be very clear my criticism is absolutely not of organisations like SpunOut or any youth organisation that seeks to mitigate the negative impacts of Government policy. But when you see that video on the Department of Housing’s website, it’s almost like the person who sets fire to your house then hands you a bucket of water to put out that fire.”
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Rory Hearne, the Social Democrats housing spokesperson, criticised the Department of Housing for sharing the video, saying it was “normalising something that should not be normalised”.
SpunOut said in a statement it is their role, as a youth-led organisation, to “continue to provide factual, reliable, and non-judgmental information support to young people facing incredibly difficult housing circumstances.
“It is the role of the Government to rapidly escalate the level of intervention in the housing market. SpunOut has advocated for this on numerous occasions, most recently in our 2026 pre-Budget submission which calls for a €4.1 billion investment in providing affordable housing and tackling youth homelessness.
“As the housing crisis deepens for young people, SpunOut will continue to press for large-scale government action, while taking steps to inform and support young people facing difficult housing choices through no fault of their own.”
In the Dáil on Tuesday, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers reiterated the video was not “a direct Department of Housing campaign”.
Speaking in the Dáil Mr Chambers said “I recognise the need to do everything we can to improve the availability and delivery of social, affordable homes right across our country. It’s been the single biggest issue in our development of the National Review of the national development plan. It’s been our focus in terms of infrastructure.”
He was responding as Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty and Labour leader Ivana Bacik sharply criticised the Government and called for Mr Chambers to accept housing policy was a failure.
Mr Doherty asked if the Minister understood “why young people are offended and hurt by your Government sharing this video, and do you accept that it is wrong for this Government to make young people feel that they are somehow at fault for your housing crisis?”
Ms Bacik said: “In a move that is beyond satire, the State is even funding the excellent SpunOut organisation to advise young people by video on how to cope with a move back to their parents’ house.”
“But it’s your Government that has priced them out of the rental and purchase market. It would be comical if it wasn’t so serious, because 80 per cent of the population are priced out of renting, and 60 per cent can’t afford to buy a house on their salary.”
