Varadkar reveals deficit of 250,000 homes in State, admitting crisis will take time to solve

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there is a deficit of 250,000 homes in the country at present and accepted it will take a long time to resolve the State’s continuing housing shortage crisis.

Mr Varadkar told a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party that 30,000 homes were built last year and another 35,000 are under construction in 2023. However, he said the overall deficit in terms of need was at a quarter of a million.

“It will take a long time to close the gap but the corner can be turned this year,” he told his TD and Senator colleagues.

“There needs to be at least 40,000 homes built every year and we are ramping up to that under the Housing for All plan,” he said.

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The annual target for Housing for All is 33,000 new-build homes each year. Mr Varadkar pointed out that the 30,000 completions last year did not include student accommodation and derelict properties brought back into use.

The admission came a day after the Government announced the end to a pause on evictions which could see a rise in homelessness, according to charities.

Party sources said that the meeting generally supported the Taoiseach’s stance with TDs and Senators acknowledging that difficult decisions had to be made.

Meanwhile, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien defended his decision to end the temporary ban at the end of March at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting.

He told the party’s TDs and Senators that he acknowledged the difficulties around the issue but said “it was in the public interest in the medium-term, to long-term. He said more private rental supply was needed.

[ Q&A: The rental eviction ban ends - what happens next? ]

It was agreed at Wednesday night’s gathering that a meeting will soon take place with the party’s internal community and housing policy group, chaired by Senator Micheál Carrigy.

Sen Carrigy addressed the meeting and said that housing developments, where planning permission is in place, needs to be de-risked with construction starting soon.

A number of TDs and Senators raised the issue of shovel-ready school-build projects being stalled. The Taoiseach acknowledged that these delays in commencing construction of schools had to be resolved and he will work with Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Education Norma Foley to ensure this happens within weeks.

Contributions from the floor included calls for tax incentives to encourage landlords to stay in the market and for local authorities to use the finance made available to them to put tenants in situ much more quickly than is happening at present.

Regarding November’s referendum on gender equality, Mr Varadkar said changing the Constitution is never easy and referendums have been lost in the past through lack of planning.

Party colleagues heard a lot of work has to be done between now and November to ensure the wording is right and a decision made on whether enabling legislation is necessary.

Ahead of meeting President Joe Biden next week, the Taoiseach said he will be renewing the invitation to the US President to visit his ancestral home and he hoped the visit happens sooner rather than later.

At the Fianna Fáil meeting, the decision was generally accepted although there were calls for more support for tenants.

Dun Laoghaire TD Cormac Devlin argued for the expansion of the Landlord Purchase Scheme while Senator Mary Fitzpatrick said the tenant in-situ scheme in Dublin City Council could be expanded. She also called for a clear plan on tax treatment for landlords.

A number of TDs called for further engagement on the new Planning and Development Bill as the Government prepares to plan mapping offshore wind-farms.

Minister Eamon Ryan’s recent comments on reductions in private car use through measures including congestion charges, road charges and increased parking charges, were criticised by the Clare TD Cathal Crowe.

Colleagues sad he told the meeting that it was too soon and people outside Dublin did not have Luas lines running outside their front doors. He asked Fianna Fáil Ministers to push back against what he said were “anti-rural proposals”.