Election 2020: Rebuilding Ireland has failed, says Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil has criticised the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland housing scheme, saying that it has failed to deliver on its promises.

Figures compiled by the party through a series of parliamentary questions show that out of the 84 promised actions set out in the plan, over half, or 52 per cent, have failed to reach designated targets or cannot be assessed.

In a Fianna Fáil document criticising the scheme, the party says the Government set out a target of 800 repair and lease properties by the end of 2018, but only 89 were delivered by that time.

The programme also sets out an affordable rental scheme, which was promised €10 million in funding since 2015, but no funding has been ring-fenced.

Fine Gael also pledged to double the average output of housing to more than 25,000 units per year between the years 2017 and 2021.

Between 2017 and 2019, an average of 17,992 homes were delivered each year, achieving 72 per cent of the target.

Darragh O’Brien, housing spokesman for Fianna Fáil, said Fine Gael has not prioritised housing and homelessness, branding the Rebuilding Ireland scheme a “failure”.

“As you know, last week Fine Gael launched its manifesto and out of the €8.7 billion of spending and a whopping €2.8 billion of tax cuts, they committed and costed an extra total of zero euro for building housing,” Mr O’Brien said.

“In our view that displays a distinct lack of ambition and a lack of understanding on how to resolve the housing crisis. Fine Gael’s plan is clear; the same plan, the same people and the same money.”

In its manifesto, Fianna Fáil has promised an additional €2.2 billion in spending to tackle the housing crisis.

Among its promises are a top-up saving incentive scheme for first-time buyers, cutting construction costs and increasing the number of social and affordable homes being built.

Fine Gael’s manifesto, launched last week, proposes expanding the Help to Buy scheme by €10,000, which currently provides an income tax and Dirt refund of €20,000 for first time buyers to be used for a deposit on new or self-build homes.

The party also wants to provide between 35,000 and 40,000 homes per year and add 60,000 social homes over the next five years.

People living in towns with populations of less than 2,000 would be offered State-owned sites at cost, which Fine Gael says would provide 8,600 homes.

Housing and homelessness is one of the biggest issues being discussed throughout the election campaign.

The most recent figures for December 2019 show that the number of homeless people has dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in almost a year.

The latest data, published on Wednesday by the Department of Housing, show there were 9,713 people in emergency accommodation during the week of December 23-29th 2019.

The figures for the end of 2019 include 3,422 children in 1,548 families - a significant reduction of 330 children compared with November (3,752).