Taoiseach distances himself from Tánaiste's promise to build 40,000 houses a year

Leo Varadkar had made the sweeping commitment during the Fine Gael ard fheis, but Micheál Martin was less enthusiastic in the Dáil

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, right, claims he did not hear Leo Varadkar's speech at the Fine Gael ard fheis. File Picture: Julien Behal

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has distanced himself from sweeping promises made by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar about ramping up house-building in Ireland.

Mr Varadkar, addressing the Fine Gael ard fheis last weekend, promised to build 40,000 houses a year, surpassing the Government's target of 33,000.

That was in addition to remarks about uniting Ireland and increasing health spend.

The Taoiseach said he had not managed to catch all of the Fine Gael ard fheis, but did take in the "extensive" media coverage.

It was a Fine Gael ard fheis and as a party leader, of course, the Tánaiste is entitled to address and present the Fine Gael perspective on a variety of issues.

"In terms of summer economic statement, last evening we were presented with an overview of that and a presentation on that front, from the minister of Ffnance and the minister for public expenditure, which might be characterised as a more sober assessment of the situation over the next five years.

"We knew for these two years, there would be exceptional spending in terms of the pandemic, an exceptional deficit but over the lifetime of the Government, and as part of Government, we have said we will ease our way through to a balanced fiscal position over the next five years, and that's the trajectory that the ministers would have presented to us and they will be doing more work on that before the publication.

"On the 40,000 homes, the minister for housing is preparing the Housing For All strategy.

"Obviously, we lost a lot of houses last year and this year; the next 10 years we must build up.

"The ESRI has said 33,000 [per year]. Given that we've lost some houses in 2021, 5,000, maybe 6 to 7,000 in 2021, we need to build that up for the remainder of the decade."

The Taoiseach also joked that the minister for health was pleasantly surprised to hear Leo Varadkar say that the increased spending and resources allocated to the health service in Covid-19 should be retained going forward.

Opposition TDs were less positive about it, though, with Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy questioning where the about-turn from the Tánaiste originated.

"Having been an enthusiastic Tory fiscal conservative for his entire life, Mr Varadkar has seen the light. 

There were so many spending commitments announced on Saturday that Fine Gael delegates must have been checking to make sure that they were at the right event.

"I wonder if, the next time you're down in Dublin Bay South, you'll come across a Fine Gael bus with a big sign on the side of it saying that there's €4m extra a year for the HSE emblazoned on the side."

She demanded to know whether the 40,000 houses was "a firm commitment" that the Government would stand over.