Housing Agency outlines how many houses need to be built to meet demand in Ireland

The number of houses built increased by nearly 20% last year, according to a Housing Agency report.

The report outlines how there were 15,000 completions last year, but also says 81,000 new homes need to be build by 2020 to meet demand.

It also says there are almost 92,000 people on housing lists and 7,000 homeless people in Ireland.

David Silk, Policy Director at the Housing Agency, says despite the increase in builds, there are still not enough houses.

Mr Silk said: "It is an increase, it is going in the right direction, but roughly 20,000 to 25,000 new homes is what we require each year up until 2020.

"So, we are falling behind in terms of our production, but there are lots of positive indicators, and activity in the construction industry generally is up."