Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 05 Feb 2025

Welcome to Leaders' Questions, where Ireland's leaders face the heat, the pressure and the toughest questions of the day. Thank you. Come on, I've got to count Corlett, 40,000 Taoiseach. That's the number of new homes that you and Simon Harris said that you would build last year. It's a number that was repeated again and again throughout 2024, going into overdrive in the lead up to last November's general elections. Let me just recall for you some of your bluster. On social media in October, Taoiseach, you said the country is coming close to 40,000 homes being built this year. On Virgin Media again in October, you said we've now got to about 40,000 new homes. And of course, you weren't on your own. Simon Harris first floated the 40,000 figure in August of last year. In October, he was at it again, saying new bills would be well upwards towards 40,000. And he repeated this claim at the Fine Gael manifesto launch in November. Now, clearly, the claim of 40,000 new homes for 2024 was being used as an election ploy, an attempt to convince people that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had turned the corner on housing. But here's the catch, Taoiseach. None of it was true. The figure of 40,000 new homes was pure fiction. A trick designed to mislead the public because you couldn't face an election based on the actual facts of your performance in housing. That not alone had the rate of house building stagnated on your watch, but it was in fact going backwards. And now, your election lies have been exposed and you have been caught out. Two reports published in the last two weeks have exposed your election gimmick and lay bare again your failure in housing. Firstly, the report from the Central Statistics Office, which states that only 30,000 new homes were built in 2024. That's a far cry from the 40,000 homes that you parroted throughout the election. This report reflects the fact that the number of new homes has fallen from the previous year of 2023. And then yesterday, figures released by Construction Information Services Ireland state that only 29,136 homes were built last year. That's not even 30,000, not to mind the 40,000 that you put up in lights for the election. Truth is that your claim of 40,000 new homes for 2024 was a load of bull and, well, you knew it. But you chose to repeat this claim again and again in an effort to mislead voters. The housing crisis touches every part of our society. It's driven desperation. It has driven despair. Bad enough that you failed to solve this crisis. But worse, you openly and knowingly deceived the public on this matter in the course of the last election. You're on the record repeatedly doing just that. So you need to set the record straight. You and Simon Harris repeatedly gave false information to the public regarding new house bills. The figure of 40,000 was simply untrue. And you now have the opportunity to correct the record. And I ask that you avail of that opportunity today. Thank you, Deputy. Housing is the number one social priority in this country. Thank you so much for joining us today. Housing is the number one social priority in this country. It goes to the heart of cohesion in this country. It is the government's priority as it was during the lifetime of the last government. And during the lifetime of the last government, from about 2020 onwards, close to 130,000 homes were built. We exceeded our targets in Housing for All in the years 2022 and 2023, significantly by over 7,400. In 2024, the target was 33,000 in Housing for All, and we did not meet that target. And in addition, there were estimates. Deutsche Bank said predicted in excess of 40,000 houses. EY Euroconstruct predicted 36,000 houses last July. And Kieran Holmes predicted close to 40,000 houses also. And my commentary then was a genuine belief that we are heading for the high 30s. It was a genuine belief that there was no attempt to mislead anybody in relation to that. I have to make that point because these were external groupings making estimates in relation to the prospects for a high figure in 2024. And in addition, of course, we know about the commencements because of the initiative we took in terms of wavering development levies and so on. Commencements were dramatically increased over the last year and a half in respect of that. And the bottom line is, as far as I'm concerned, that these I'm very disappointed, very, very disappointed with the old turn for 2024. We got the figure wrong in terms of what we thought might happen. The target was 33. We thought it would be much higher than that. And I regret that. But what it means is, we do have to fundamentally, because all parties in the general election had figures around 50,000 a year, which was an ESRI are suggesting that that was their average and that we'd be 60,000, that we need to get to 60,000 by 2030. The issue, though, is how do we get to that 50,000 per year? And I think we need a fundamental shift in our approach, not just government, but the IROCTUS more generally, in our attitude to private sector investment in housing. We do. Because a lot of what has happened, whether we like it or not, and whether it is palatable or not, has disincentivised private investment in housing. The state is the biggest investor. We've allocated 6 billion for 2025, the highest ever capital allocation to housing. The state will not be able to do it all on its own, in terms of the 50,000 that people identify as our need. It may be even higher than that. And so, therefore, if everybody wants to be honest about figures, the issue is how do we get there? Is the core question. Because when we exceeded targets in 2022 and 2023, what was the response from the opposition? The targets were too low. No, they weren't. Clearly the targets were realistic, because targets are assessed by a number of factors. Need is a different question to target. Need relates to our population growth. We have to devise methods and mechanisms and policies that get us to what we need. And I don't dispute what we need. And different parties had different programmes in the last general election. Thank you. Deputy MacDonald. For the first time, the Taoiseach and, by extension, the Government have openly accepted that you have missed your targets. I suppose that is progress of some sort. But the fact remains, Taoiseach, that you deliberately and repeatedly used a figure of 40,000 new homes for 2024, when you have to have known that that was not going to be delivered by you. You cite Deutsche Bank, but you know that by the final quarter, the CSO, the ESRI, the Central Bank itself, all of that data reflected that 40,000 was always fictitious. It was never realisable. And yet you, the parties of government, you in particular, and Simon Harris, insisted on repeating a falsehood of 40,000 again and again and again. And this was specifically to dodge the very necessary debate around the how of delivery. So, could you go a bit further, Taoiseach, and make it explicit that 40,000 was wrong and that it was not delivered in 2024? Could I say to the Deputy that if you take the three years combined, 2022, 2023 and 2024, we exceeded our targets by close to 5,000 houses. But that is not of interest to you. But what I would say, the bottom line in the general election is that the programme that you put forward did not persuade people. Because you wanted to dramatically disrupt and change the land development agency. You wanted to get rid of the help to buy scheme. You wanted to get rid of the first home scheme, which are so beneficial to first-time buyers. So, your programme did not persuade. The platform as to how you were going to achieve a housing breakthrough or higher numbers simply did not persuade people. And you have got to acknowledge that, Deputy. That is the reality of it. And as far as I'm concerned, we want, we've exceeded targets in two years. The third year, we didn't. I'm extremely disappointed with that. The estimates that were out there from the... Thank you, Taoiseach. The entities that I've identified were clearly pointing... Thank you, Taoiseach. Thank you, Taoiseach. Thank you, Taoiseach. Like, share, and subscribe to stay informed and help drive positive change.