Taoiseach welcomes ESRI report and insists Government will increase supply

Olivia Kelleher

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warmly welcomed the findings of an Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report which indicates that house prices could fall by 12 per cent by 2030 if output was increased by 10,000 units a year for the remainder of this decade.

Speaking at the launch of the Macroom Bypass in Cork, he insisted that building houses with more speed and increasing supply is key in terms of getting to grips with the crisis in housing in this country

“I welcome the report because it points in the right direction and that is exactly what we want to do in Government is to really increase the level of house building and get houses built faster.

Supply is the answer to the price issue but also to enabling younger generations to get access to houses that are affordable to rent and affordable to buy.

“That means a combination of house types – from social houses to affordable and to cost rental - a whole range of options will continue to be pursued by government in 2023.

"We are looking to develop a greater number of social and affordable houses on public lands with a more accelerated planning process, as the minister has announced in the Dáil this week, to enable us to get more rapid build houses built on council lands in 2023."

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach was asked to outline the timetable for his talks with Coalition partners in relation to the handover of power and the consequent Cabinet reshuffle.

A very good, and long-awaited day, for the people of Macroom, and the South-West!
 
This N22 upgrade and bypass will improve safety, support economic growth, investment, tourism, and improve air quality.@corkcoco pic.twitter.com/777UN9XdVM

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) December 9, 2022

Mr Martin said that they had had "broad discussions" in terms of the process of the handover to phase two of this Government.

"The programme for government is the key, the glue that holds the three parties together. That is the mandate we have to implement and that is what we are going to do. Closer to the day we will discuss individual portfolios in terms of allocation of portfolios to Ministers.

We have a fair idea because of the original agreement we entered in to in terms of the general shape of things. But it will be closer to the 17th. There will be discussions this week obviously in terms of some of these issues."

Mr Martin stressed the need to "work collectively to improve the quality of life of people. "

"Housing remains the big issue, we need to build more houses faster. Climate is a constant issue. Health reform and of course education and childcare opportunities, and developments such as this (the bypass) so that we can continue to progress economically.

“We’ve done well economically coming out of Covid, the inflation cycle from the war in Ukraine, across Europe, markets are dampening, so we have got to be resilient and robust in terms of economic development. And capital projects like this make a big difference over time, economically. "