Simon Coveney admits failings after deaths of three ‘on streets’

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has described the deaths of three homeless people this week as a “tragedy”, but says the Government is responding to the housing crisis.

Mr Coveney says 3,000 families were taken out of homelessness last year, but the Government is “running to stand still”, because of the scale of the crisis.

“Anytime someone dies in a vulnerable place is a tragedy,” he said of the three deaths. “The State has a duty to minimise the risk to those in a vulnerable position. I am very saddened by them.”

He defended the Government’s actions, but conceded that more had to be done.

“The problem is far from solved,” Mr Coveney told Newstalk. “The problem is that we have more and more people coming into homelessness every month, so we are effectively running to stand still, which is not good enough. The truth is we will build about 2,600 social houses — last year it was about 600 — so that is a dramatic ramping-up, and we will get up to building 8,000 a year, but it takes time. There is no shortage of effort.”

Mr Coveney, a former housing minister, said the Government is considering how the demand for social housing can be met.

He stopped short of saying this might include a new, Irish Water-type agency financed out of Nama funds.

“There have been options, which we looked at,” he said. “When you intervene in the market, you have to make sure of the impact you will have. It is up to Eoghan Murphy to bring proposals to Cabinet.

“When I was there, we did look at what areas will local authorities come under pressure to deliver the volume of social houses needed.”

Independent Alliance junior minister, John Halligan, did not mince his words, describing some landlords as “leeches and vipers”, and he said their unfair treatment of tenants is contributing to the housing crisis.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, he bemoaned the difficulties of the renting market for tenants, and said the way some landlords operate is fuelling the housing problem.

Mr Halligan said: “People are praising landlords, and there are some good landlords, but there are some leeches and vipers out there, who are charging extraordinary amounts of rent, with nobody stopping them [from] taking a mobile home and charging €1,400 for small bedsits, and so on.”

Meanwhile, builders and developers are in line for tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of euro, under Fianna Fáil plans to build thousands of new homes.

Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Barry Cowen said his party is demanding that the Vat rate for the construction industry be cut to 9%, for up to three years, in next month’s budget (the Government will need Fianna Fáil’s approval to pass the budget).

Cuts to planning and certification costs, and tax incentives and reliefs for builders and developers who provide affordable homes are also envisaged.

The move on Vat will delight the construction sector, which has long lobbied for the current rate of 13.5% to be temporarily reduced to 9%. It would cut the estimated €300,000 it costs to build a house in the greater Dublin area.