7 steps will ‘double number of houses’

The Construction Industry Federation has claimed the supply of new houses could double within two years if the Government were to take seven "simple" steps to help the industry.

CIF pointed out that while the Government and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have said 25,000 units need to be built every year, it is expected that only 10,000 will be built nationwide during 2014.

It said the measures it was proposing could see 20,000 new units built per year by 2016.