Harris criticises Sinn Féin’s 'Goldilocks' approach to housing objections

Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has criticised Sinn Féin for looking for a “Goldilocks” criteria for housing developments.

He also cited the past “economic mismanagement” of the country as the reason for the slow increase in the housing supply, which the Government has argued is contributing to unaffordable house prices and rent costs.

New rents are an average of 10 per cent higher than they were last year, according to property website Daft.ie, and housing charities have warned unaffordable rents are contributing to the record high 12,600 people who are homeless.

The Government has announced several housing schemes to help bridge the gap between what people earn and average house prices, including a grant of up to €30,000 for first-time buyers under the Help-to-Buy scheme, and a loan of up to 30 per cent of the house value under the First Home Scheme.

Responding to Eurostat figures that indicate more adults in their 20s in Ireland live at home compared to other countries, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said it is of “huge concern”.

He said there are signs that the State's housing supply is increasing, and it will be “essential” to maintain that level of supply and make homes more affordable.

“Of course, it’s of huge concern to us to find many who are in a position that they want to leave home, they want to buy their own home, they feel they’re in a position to do it, and they can’t,” he said.

Mr Harris said Ireland faces a “massive and mammoth” challenge to repair the country in the aftermath of the economic crash.

He said that when he was first elected to the Dáil, he remembered stories about mortgage arrears, ghost estates, and the construction industry collapsing.

“Yes, it takes many years to fix, to repair those scars, those deep scars from the economic crash and economic mismanagement of this country,” he told reporters at Government Buildings.

“I think, you know, when the electorate and the citizens of this country look at one party’s record, they’ll also look at other parties’ policies.

“You’ve got to remember, and I see this in my own hometown, week after week after week people are now buying homes, new young people buy first-time homes, and they’re using a Government scheme called the first-time buyers grant to help buy a home, to help get the deposit.

“The main opposition party wants to scrap that.

“Also, you can’t have an approach to housing that Sinn Féin seems to, which is kind of like Goldilocks: too hot, too cold, too many houses, too few houses, too wrong mix. You’ve got to get on with actually building.

“So yes, repairing a country from an economic crash isn’t easy, and yes, it’s taken a long time to get to this point.

“But we’re now back in a period of serious growth of housing numbers and every week hundreds of new people are now buying their first home.”