Darragh O'Brien: 400 affordable homes to be launched this year 

Housing minister's 'earnest wish' that construction sites will reopen on March 5

The areas in which the homes will be built will be announced in the coming weeks. Picture: Pexels

A total of 400 affordable homes will be launched this year, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has told the Dáil.

Mr O'Brien revealed the figure while clashing with Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin in a questions and answers session on housing.

Mr Ó Broin said the Government had provided a "paltry" sum of €35m for affordable housing and asked the minister, who he said was "developing a reputation for bluff and bluster", in light of enforced closures of construction sites, how many affordable purchase homes would be available this year.

That sparked a heated exchange between the two in which Mr O'Brien accused the Sinn Féin TD of "badgering" him, of being "juvenile", and of "playing games".

Eventually, Mr O'Brien said the areas in which the homes will be built will be announced in the coming weeks.

"The deputy may not be [interested in the answer] and that is fine because what he will always do is try to play politics with a situation. 

"A total of 400 affordable rental homes and a national affordable rental scheme will be launched this year. There will be 400 homes tenanted this year. 

"In the coming couple of weeks, if not in the next week, we will be announcing the specific areas where the homes will be delivered. We have put out the call on that."

Mr Ó Broin said this week's Society of Chartered Surveyors report on the cost of apartment building showed that "Fine Gael's housing policy has failed".

"In 2018, the then minister for housing, planning and local government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, introduced the serviced sites fund and from the Opposition benches, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, claimed credit for that €300m. 

"The then Government promised to deliver 6,200 affordable homes by 2021. Not one of those houses has been delivered and only 150 are currently in construction and we do not know when they will be ready or what the final price will be."

Mr O'Brien later said that he is keen for construction sites to reopen on March 5, saying that it is his "earnest wish".

Earlier, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said it was clear that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, due to expire at the end of March, would need to be extended. She told Sinn Féin's Claire Kerrane that the Government would "not be found wanting".

"Earlier this month, I secured Government approval for the retention of the current rates of payment until March 31 next. With the extension of the current restrictions until March 5, it is clear to everybody that we now need to look to beyond the end of March in this regard. I will consult with my Government colleagues over the coming weeks on where we are in terms of the trajectory of the virus, the roll-out of the vaccine, and where we are at in terms of reopening the economy. 

"I want to assure the deputy that the Government will not be found wanting and has not been found wanting in terms of supporting people who have found themselves in this very difficult situation."

Ms Humphreys, however, said that the decision to tax the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was a matter for the Finance Minister after Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy called it "a kick in the teeth". 

Ms Humphreys also told Fianna Fáil's Paul McAuliffe that PUP arrears have been paid.

"They were paid mainly on 1 December, when 286,000 people received arrears totalling €134m. A smaller group of people received an arrears payment in the past two weeks."