Government will increase targets for LDA house builds, says Varadkar

The Land Development Agency is now 'getting going'

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar  said the Government will be revising 'upwards' the targets for the Land Development Agency. Picture: PA

The Government is to increase targets for the number of houses that the Land Development Agency (LDA) will build, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

During Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Mr Varadkar said the Government will be revising “upwards” the targets for the LDA, adding that the LDA had a slow start but is now “getting going”.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the LDA has yet to deliver a single home on State land despite Mr Varadkar labelling it as one of the most significant ever State interventions in the housing market.

Ms Cairns said it is “pathetic” that fewer than 10,000 homes can be delivered on State land in the next decade, out of up to 67,000 homes that could be built on such land.

“How, in the middle of a housing disaster when the Government claims it's pulling out all the stops, has it taken the LDA five years to complete a review of the State's property assets? It's like some kind of sick joke,” she said.

Mr Varadkar said the LDA is building homes, 600 of which are currently under construction in Shanganagh in Dublin.

He said the LDA’s report is useful and is “honest” about constraints.

“In some cases, there's no power connection, there's no water connection, the land isn’t zoned, or there's no road connection. It's very easy to say to the public that the State should just build 66,000 houses on public land and do it this year or next year,” he said.

He also said that he had not checked yet whether any of Ms Cairns’ colleagues opposed certain housing projects listed, to which she responded that Fine Gael TDs and councillors objected to 12,000 homes between 2019 and 2022.

“These attacks on opposition just seemed increasingly desperate,” she said.

Mr Varadkar said it is “precious” of Ms Cairns to say that “nobody can say anything back” to her.

“How dare we question your claims? How dare we point out the progress that was being made? How dare we bring some balance to this debate? It's a bit precious, it's a bit precious to say that, to say that you shouldn't be subjected to any criticism,” he said.

Eviction ban

The Sinn Féin leader said the lifting of the eviction ban will escalate a housing crisis that is “already out of control”.

Mary Lou McDonald said the Taoiseach put no adequate plans in place ahead of the lifting of the ban before urging all TDs to back the Sinn Féin bill which would extend the eviction ban until January 2024.

“Don't vote to evict your own constituents into homelessness,” she said.

Mr Varadkar said 50,000 new tenancies were created last year and although “maybe in most cases” these properties had been rented out before, people “found a new place to live”.

“That is the answer to your question, deputy, as to where people will go, new tenancies; 50,000 individuals and families found a new place to rent last year. That will be the same this year,” he said, adding that emergency accommodation is “not the solution”.

He said the Government will increase the amount of emergency accommodation for those who may need it.

He said the over 4,000 notices of termination will not result in the same number of those requiring emergency accommodation which he said will be evident in the coming months.

Mr Varadkar said the bill was being opposed as it would make it illegal for people or their children to move back into their house, as well as making it illegal for someone to sell their house “even if they’re in financial distress”.