Simon Coveney defends housing figures

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has again tried to defend his department’s housing completion figures which were significantly higher than figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Included in Mr Coveney’s new Rebuilding Ireland plan was a defence of his figures on housing completions. Mr Coveney denied that house building is lower than the official figures. He was responding to reports that only 7,500 units were built last year, which is lower than the Department of Housing statistics which estimates 15,000 were completed in 2016.

The minister hit out at commentators who used the publication of the Census figures to draw conclusions around discrepancies in new house completion statistics: “A deeper analysis of these transitions is required and would be very useful in forming good policy.”