Simon Harris: 'Zero tolerance' for blockages within the housing system

Tánaiste told party colleagues the Government must be 'deadly serious' about the delivery of homes and 'treat it as an emergency' 

Tánaiste Simon Harris also told Fine Gael TDs and senators that funds provided to Uisce Éireann should be moved towards the supply of housing. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Tánaiste Simon Harris has said that the Government must have “zero tolerance” for blockages within the housing system while hitting out at “bureaucratic delays”.

The Fine Gael leader told his parliamentary party that the Government needed to be “deadly serious” about the delivery of homes and “treat it as an emergency”.

He also told TDs and senators that funds provided to Uisce Éireann needed to be moved towards the supply of housing.

Mr Harris said that finance for the utility company would be ringfenced for housing supply.

The Tánaiste’s comments come after Cabinet agreed for a further €450m in capital funding to be spent on social and affordable housing in 2025.

It had previously been expected that this funding would be spent across 2025, 2026 and 2027, but a Government spokesperson confirmed that this was not the case. An expected 2,995 homes, of which 2,261 will be affordable and the remaining 734 as social homes, will be built in the three-year timeframe.

Social Democrats housing spokesperson, Rory Hearne, rubbished the proposals, saying that the funding is “completely inadequate”.

He accused the Government of throwing the housing market into a state of “uncertainty” amid new policies being floated, including potential tax breaks for developers.

However, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke has rubbished any suggestion of introducing Section 23, or Celtic Tiger-style tax breaks for developers, saying their introduction previously “broke” Ireland.

“Those are the tax breaks that brought our country to a shuddering halt,” Mr Burke said on RTÉ’s Drivetime.

“The reason why tax breaks were introduced at that time was to incentivise demand. We have a huge demand in this country.”

Mr Burke said the Government needed to work with “all the actors” to deliver as many homes as possible.

Fianna Fáil has repeatedly insisted that any tax breaks would not be akin to Section 23, and would be time-limited and only for brownfield sites in urban areas.

It comes as the Taoiseach has been accused of making housing policy “on the hoof”, with Labour leader Ivana Bacik making the charge against him during Leaders’ Questions.

She said that Government representatives had failed to attend a Labour debate on the issue last week, rejecting the idea that the party had not put forward solutions.

“The lack of input from Government suggests, Taoiseach, that you’re not taking the housing crisis seriously.

“In the debate [last week], I suggested that your Government was devoid of ambition and ideas in tackling the housing crisis.”

She said that the idea of reviewing rent pressure zones was a “an audacious step, for sure, but in the wrong direction”.

Mr Martin rejected any assertion that the government planned to end rent pressure zones and not replace them, saying that he had not made this call.