40,000 new homes each year: Varadkar says the policy is Fine Gael’s, not Government’s
DUBLIN: Fine Gael sets a target for more homes to be built in Ireland at moderate rates in the coming years, even as house prices soar to the level of the “Celtic Tiger” era.
Fine Gael has set a target to build 40,000 new homes each year. Party leader Leo Varadkar said the plan has been discussed with government colleagues, but it is not government policy.
Tánaiste Varadkar announced the target of 70% home ownership during Fine Gael’s Ard Fhéis. “This will require getting up to forty thousand new homes built every year, double where we are now,” he said.
“This will be done through public and private investment, and we will champion the building of new communities and new homes,” Mr. Varadkar said. Social, shared ownership, cost rental, student accommodation, rental homes and homes to purchase will all be part of the plan.
“Each of the three parties in this government have their own policies, we’re all comfortable with the fact that we have different policies. We’re saying that we need to get up to 40,000 a year, we’ve discussed it at Cabinet sub-committee, but it’s not government policy, this is Fine Gael policy but we will feed that into Housing For All which will be government policy,” Mr. Varadkar said.
Meanwhile, he said the target for next year is not 40,000 but 25,000 homes. Before the pandemic, “we were heading for 25,000 last year and 30,000 this year”, he said. The Tánaiste believes it is possible to increase supplies by more than 5,000 per year.
The Fine Gael leader said the Government wants to ensure that house prices in the country do not go to the highest level they reached 14 years ago. Varadkar also said that those who pay €1,400 or €1,500 per month in rent have an issue securing a mortgage for €1,200.
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