Harris defends Government after EU Housing chair says Irish housing crisis 'most severe' in Europe

Olivia Kelleher

Tánaiste Simon Harris has defended the Government after the Chair of the European Parliament’s Housing Committee described Ireland’s housing crisis as amongst the “most severe” and “most complicated” in Europe on Thursday.

Italian MEP Irene Tinagli was on a fact-finding mission across Ireland in recent days. She said that evictions, institutional investors and the growth of short-term lets are all contributing to the pressure on housing in this country.

Speaking at the turning of the sod on 410 houses in Bishopstown in Cork city on Friday, the Fine Gael leader stated that he hadn’t seen her “exact comments".

However, he emphasised that completions of new homes in Ireland “are well above the European average.”

“In fact one of the very highest so I don’t know the context of that (comment). I also know that when I go to Europe, and I go to Brussels at least once a month, housing is a challenge in all Member States.

"During our Presidency of the Council of the European Union Ireland we will host a housing summit so we can share ideas and learnings.

"Let me be really clear there is a housing emergency in this country. There is too many young people who find the social contract broken and that is why I think there needs to be zero tolerance in relation to bureaucracy and downright nonsense. That is why we need to update the rural housing guidelines to have a consistent approach.

"That is why we need to continue to back schemes like the Help to Buy which others want to get rid of which I think is ludicrous.”

Harris stressed that “everyone has got to put their shoulder to the wheel” when it comes to housing.

“No matter what role you play in the State whether it is local or national government, a state agency the housing emergency isn’t the job of someone else. It involves everyone coming together.

"We are seeing genuinely encouraging figures in terms of the numbers of new homes, the numbers of commencements, the number of planning applications but we have got to keep at this.”

Harris said that he was delighted to be turning the sod on 410 new homes in Cork.

“These homes are accessing funding through an agency of my department called Home Building Finance Ireland. I think it is a really good example of how Government can co operate and partner with developers and builders to build more homes.

"410 homes is a significant number on a site that will be mixed tenure which is really, really important. This is a very welcome development in housing in Cork.

"It comes on a day where we saw mortgage figures out today from BPFI that show strong demand for first time buyers for homes and they put that down in large part to the Help to Buy Scheme which is a scheme we intend to fully stand by where younger people can get some of their own money back that they have paid in tax towards a deposit for their own home. I am encouraged by the figures we see for first buyers in those mortgage roll out figures. “

The Tánaiste also reiterated his commitment to overhauling rural housing rules to make it easier for families to build one off homes.

“There is a a lot of people in this country who just want to be able to get on with it and build their own home. I am not talking about people building a holiday home.

"I am talking about somebody who is from a community and wanting to build a home perhaps on their own family land or on development land nearby and at the moment the planning system is completely inconsistent.

"You could live in one county and get one view of the world and live in another county and get another view of the world. This is a small island and there is a housing emergency and enabling people to live in their own community is a very important part of balanced regional development.

"So what we intend to do in the month of June is to agree a new national planning statement that will basically simplify the process and reduce the bureaucracy but also help to have a consistent approach across local authorities. It (the current system) is not fair and is holding people back.”