Ballpark house-building targets for coming years already published, says Martin

Ballpark house-building targets for the coming years are already in the public domain, Micheal Martin has insisted.

The Tanaiste was commenting on the prospect of the Government setting new targets for the next five years ahead of the general election being called.

That is a move Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris has been pressing for in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, Mr Harris insisted that setting targets ahead of the election would provide a way to “anchor” the debate on housing during the campaign.

Amid suggestions Fianna Fail is resistant to the idea, party leader Mr Martin was asked about the issue ahead of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting in Dublin.

“Well, we’ve already published ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) data in respect of the housing potential targets for the next number of years,” he told reporters.

“There was a range of scenarios identified by the ESRI and then you have the National Planning Framework as well, which dovetails with your housing targets for the future.

“So I think those two go hand-in-hand, but I think the ballpark figures are out there, they’re published.

“Different political parties will have different sort of ideas around setting targets, both opposition and perhaps in government, but we will continue to work on those issues.”

Later, the Taoiseach made clear his position on the issue.

“I would personally have liked housing targets for the next number of years to have been set because I just think it provides a useful kind of anchor to the housing debate that rightfully will take place in the weeks ahead,” he told reporters outside Government Buildings.

“But, regardless of that, every party will have to produce a plan as to how many homes they’ll build over the next five years. I have my plan, and I’m very much looking forward to talking about it, explaining it to people from my perspective, and also showing people how we intend to fund it.

“Objectively, we’ve made a lot of progress. and housing supply numbers are a lot higher than they were when this government came to office. There’s 116,000 additional homes in Ireland now than there were when this government came to office. I think about 128,000, I think when you include vacant stock put back into use.

“But we do need to be ramping up to 50,000/60,000 homes over the next number of years and keeping it at that level, and it will be up to every party to explain to the Irish people how they intend to do it.

“I don’t think the Irish people will fall for some sort of auction where everybody just tries to shout a number louder than the other person.

“I think what they’ll want to actually see is a credible plan to keep ramping it up and showing how you’re going to fund it.”

On Wednesday, the Tanaiste was also asked whether the fallout from recent revelations around the high costs of a bike shed at Leinster House and a security hut near Government Buildings would harm the coalition parties in the upcoming election.

He said the public wanted to see value for money when it comes to state spending.

Politicians and members of the public expressed outrage after it was revealed that work to build the shed on the grounds of Leinster House cost 336,000 euro, while the security building near Government Buildings cost 1.4 million euro.

“I’ve been on the doorstep over the last number of days, I think housing is the number one issue it seems to me,” said Mr Martin.

“That’s a constant and a consistent one across the board, and then the infrastructure, the need to improve public transport. I think cost of living is there, housing, health, and obviously people want value for money, and people want expenditure allocated to the right projects, and also want to make sure that we get value for money in respect of those projects.”

On the bike shed controversy, he added: “The cost of that was absolutely excessive and ridiculous and shouldn’t have happened – that’s why we have the comptroller and auditor general. I think there has to be a focus on value for money.”

Mr Martin said he did not think concerns over rising costs would lead to the abandonment of major planned infrastructure projects, such as Dublin’s Metrolink, adding “scrutiny” of spending was a good thing, but it could not lead to “paralysis” in terms of consideration of projects.