Government wins motion of confidence in Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien

Taoiseach hits out at 'angry bluster' and 'populist nonsense' from the opposition as Government motion is carried comfortably

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien accused opposition TDs of making a 'political judgement' to slow down delivery of housing. File picture

The Government has comfortably won a motion of confidence in Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien.

The vote came in response to a no-confidence motion tabled by People Before Profit (PBP), with the group claiming the worsening housing and homelessness crisis under Mr O'Brien is tearing apart the social fabric of Irish society and leading to the scapegoating of refugees and International Protection applicants.

However, the Government motion was carried with 86 TDs voting confidence in Mr O'Brien. There were 63 votes against and one abstention.

Defending his record in the Dáil, Mr O'Brien accused opposition TDs of making a "political judgement" to slow down delivery of housing and said all politicians have a "responsibility" to ensure citizens have homes.

"All three parties of this government have put together a comprehensive plan that's very detailed and very clear for anyone who wants to read it," Mr O'Brien said: 
No one on the opposition benches has put forward an alternative comparable to it, nobody. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the plans being brought forward by Mr O'Brien "are already making a difference".

Mr Martin hit out at the "angry bluster" and "populist nonsense" from opposition parties claiming that in reality, Mr O'Brien is a hard working minister who is implementing the first comprehensive programme for action when it comes to every element of housing.

Mr Martin said there is a "clear and widening divide" between those politicians who want to make a real change and those who want to "play cynical politics".

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it can be "so easy" for the opposition to play up the narrative that "you are the bad guys and we are the good guys".

He said the broader approach taken by Housing for All is "Republican in its perspective" and is scaling up housing in a way that hasn't been done in this country for many decades.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the People Before Profit (PBP) no-confidence motion had "no chance of passing or wouldn't build a single house" and instead was tabled to "embarrass and personalise" what is a "deeply important political and societal issue".

He said that under a PBP Government, the country would still be under lock-down as the group has advocated for a zero-Covid policy.

However, Richard Boyd Barrett said the motion had been tabled in response to the 3,000 children who will be homeless this Christmas and the fact that there are 100,000 families and individuals on housing lists.

Several members of Government including Mary Butler, Jack Chambers, and Paschal Donohoe referenced housing projects in their constituencies that have been delivered.

Calling for a change of Government, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said: "Minister, an entire generation has come of age listening to your jaded excuses and your broken promises and they are sick of a Government talking about the construction of houses that they will never be able to afford, sick of walking past blocks of fancy apartments that they will never live in."

She said Mr O'Brien had recycled the types of polices that had "got us into this mess in the first place" which focus on developers.