Split emerges as department urges 'shift change' in housing policy

The subsidies in question include sometimes controversial initiatives such as the First Home and Help to Buy schemes, plans which have been accused in some quarters of actually inflating housing prices as much as helping people to buy a home. File picture: Denis Minihane

The Department of Housing has been warned by a fellow Government department that a "shift change is needed" in the country's housing strategy.

A recent briefing delivered by the Department of Public Expenditure to Department of Housing officials stressed the need for a move away from a reliance on subsidised delivery to a focus on delivering the underlying infrastructure needed to ramp up delivery.