Paschal Donohoe urged to use empty Nama land to tackle housing crisis

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will be urged to use empty Nama land to build up to 50,000 homes in a bid to address the housing crisis during crunch budget talks with Fianna Fáil over the coming days.

Mr Donohoe will be pressed on the matter by Fianna Fáil public expenditure spokesman Dara Calleary and housing spokesman Barry Cowen as it emerged yesterday that house prices are now rising by €50 a day.

With just eight days to go before budget 2018, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil talks will this week centre on welfare spend, finalising the tax band and USC cut plans, and Fianna Fáil calls last night to ringfence €100m next year to tackle the “funding crisis” in colleges and universities.