Mick Clifford: Strategy is a gentle squeeze when the housing crisis really needs radical action

Housing For All will gently skim profit from private landowners, when affordability is the real crux of Ireland's housing crisis

The Government's new housing strategy has positive aspects — but it only puts a minor squeeze on property owners, when what we really need to see is ground being broken and houses being built. Picture: Larry Cummins

Darragh O’Brien rolled the dice on Thursday. The Minister for Housing is gambling that his Housing For All strategy will save Fianna Fail’s bacon at the next election. Of course he and his party leader, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, want to solve the housing crisis for society at large. To do so would be to leave a lasting legacy. But they also know that if a major dent is not made in the crisis, their party is probably toast the next time the country goes to the polls.

The plan is ambitious and innovative but then so was its predecessor, Rebuilding Ireland, launched in 2016. That was an abject failure as evident from the worsening crisis since then. Noticeably, the website for Rebuilding Ireland and associated links on the Government’s portal was wiped over the last week, much of it replaced with the bright new, shining Housing For All.