Housing costs still too high in Ireland, says Micheál Martin

By Jonathan McCambridge, Press Association

Housing costs are still too high for many people in Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

Speaking to the media at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in Dublin, Mr Martin said the event would “focus on the future” and denied that his party’s biggest successes were in the past.

The event is marking the 100th anniversary of the party, which is the largest in Ireland’s coalition Government.

Mr Martin insisted the Government was making progress in building social and affordable properties to tackle Ireland’s housing crisis.

We have made a difference but it is not enough, we need to do more than that

He said: “We came back (into Government) in 2020, there have been about 177,000 new housing units developed since then.

“We have made a difference but it is not enough; we need to do more than that.”

The Fianna Fail leader also pointed to a “massively increased population” in the country.

He said: “2,500,000 more people are living in the country than there would have been in 1926 – that creates its own pressures.

“Migration creates challenges as well in terms of the housing issue.

“We do need to look at the composition of the homeless issue because it is not as it was.

“We do have to increase the volume of housing and the supply; that is going to be key.

“We have significantly increased social housing compared to four years ago; we are now at 9,000 new builds.

“But we want to get to about 10,000 newly built social houses per annum, which will help structurally with the homeless situation.

“The percentage of first-time buyers now is way up compared to four or five years ago.

“Costs are still too high for many.”

Mr Martin said his party had a “clear roadmap” for the future but said the country is in a “much more fragmented political situation”, both in Ireland and beyond.

He said: “If you look at Britain, much more fragmentation across Europe, the vast, vast majority of governments now are coalition governments.

“In some countries, we have five or six parties in government.

“I don’t think that’s ideal, but we had a good success in the last general election, not just in terms of numbers from where we were, but rather in terms of the cohort of people that have come in, which I thought, I think, that generation has brought significant energy to the party, and really gives a certain platform to build for the future, so one can never be definitive in terms of the next election some years away, or indeed the election after that, and there’ll be bumps along the road, of course there will be.

“But I think we’ve turned the corner from where we had the challenges we had in 2011.”

Mr Martin said this year’s budget would have a “strong emphasis” on families.

Asked if the budget would be focused on families or businesses, the Taoiseach said that neither was “mutually exclusive”.

He said: “We always have to have economic growth so we can have social progress.

“There will be a very strong emphasis on families, to try and protect families because the costs are significant for families and children in particular.”

A large pro-Palestinian protest is taking place outside the Dublin Royal Convention Centre, where the Ard Fheis is taking place.