Housing Department chief to explain how it left €246m unspent amid housing crisis

Department secretary general Graham Doyle will tell Oireachtas public accounts committee about the causes of the underspend

Department of Housing secretary general Graham Doyle will explain his department's spending decisions to the PAC today, Thursday. File picture: gov.ie

The head of the Department of Housing believes that a €246m underspend on housing delivery has occurred despite all actions to increase supply having been “exhausted”.

Secretary general Graham Doyle will tell the Oireachtas public accounts committee (PAC) today that, over the past four years, a total of €382m in the budget for his department has been returned to the exchequer, not counting funds rolled over for use the following year.

The Government has faced criticism in recent times for the consistent underspend, amid suggestions not enough is being done to accelerate housing delivery at a time of record homelessness.

Mr Doyle will argue before the PAC that the underspend has in part resulted from contrasting budgets handed to the department in terms of capital allocation and the separate delivery of national development plan (NDP) targets, which stretch across four years up to 2025.

He will add that the covid-19 pandemic  and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have both led to “significant interruption to infrastructure delivery”, and represent a “critical backdrop” to any review of housing output over the past number of years.

'We delivered more social homes last year than we’ve done in nearly 50 years and we’ll do more than that this year.' Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien speaking to reporters in Cherrywood yesterday, flanked by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council chairwoman Mary Hanafin and Cormac Devlin TD. Picture: Cillian Sherlock/PA

Nevertheless, the State’s attempts to catch up with housing targets have “been immense”, Mr Doyle will tell the committee.

“Delivery dates will inevitably change over the course of a project and impact on the related expenditure,” Mr Doyle is expected to say, adding that budgetary underspend can generally not be estimated until close to the end of a year “because all partners are absolutely committed to trying to maximise delivery and expenditure within the calendar year”.

It comes as Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said he is confident he can reverse the downward trend of homeownership seen since the census of 1991.

“There is no question there’s been a drastic decline over the last 30 years in homeownership, but we’re seeing starting to reverse,” he said.

Asked if this would be reflected in the next census, he added: “I would be confident that we will see that being reversed.”

Speaking at the opening of three parks as part of the development of the Cherrywood strategic development zone, Mr O’Brien said measures had been put in place to increase housing supply after significant undersupply for more than a decade.

“We’re turning the corner in that space,” he added.

The minister said measures such as the Help to Buy grant and First Home scheme have supported more than 40,000 households in purchasing a property.

“Last year one in two new properties actually bought were bought by first time buyers,” he said. “We’ve seen over 10,000 first-time buyers draw down for mortgages, actually in the first quarter of this year,” said Mr O’Brien

He said reversing the trend of homeownership is a priority for the Government. 

“That is an absolute priority for us that people who are working hard to be able to buy their own home," he said. 

“But we don’t do that at the expense of delivering social homes either.

"We delivered more social homes last year than we’ve done in nearly 50 years and we’ll do more than that this year.”