‘SF councillors must share responsibility for housing’, says Taoiseach

The Taoiseach has taken aim at Sinn Féin for constantly blaming Government for the housing crisis at a time that the party controls a number of local authorities responsible for building social housing.

It comes after Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy wrote to three Dublin local authorities threatening to take powers away from them if they do not take immediate action to address the escalating homelessness problem.

At the close of the Fine Gael think-in, Leo Varadkar said: “The reason why we talk about council housing, the reason why we talk about council flats, the reason why we talk about council estates is they are actually provided by the council.

“There is a shared responsibility here involving central Government and local government and it’s not good enough for them not to accept their share of responsibility.”

Singling out Sinn Féin, expected to table a motion of no-confidence in Mr Murphy when the Dáil returns, the Taoiseach said it is “not good enough” that the party criticises and blames the Government when it shares responsibility at a local level.

“South Dublin County Council, for example, the largest party on that council is Sinn Féin. A lot of councils are dominated by left-wing parties and they have a role to play too.”

“It shouldn’t be about blame, it should be about solving the problem and we need those local authorities, those Sinn Féin and left-wing members of local authorities getting their councils to CPO derelict properties.

“They have the power to do it, prioritising housing and homelessness in their budget even if that may mean making hard decisions and transferring funding from other areas,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said he was “really satisfied” with all members of his Cabinet.

“I don’t think any reasonable person can hold Eoghan Murphy, a minister who has been in office for just over a year now, personally responsible for all of the problems that exist in our housing market. I think that sort of criticism is unfair.”