Fianna Fáil TD says housing is going in the right direction
Michael Bolton
A Fianna Fáil TD has claimed housing is going in the right direction under the Government.
Dublin Bay South TD Jim O'Callaghan made the comments in the same week in which party leader Micheál Martin said when the number of homes being built each year increases to 45,000 or 50,000, he expected house prices to moderate.
The latest homeless figures show there are over 14,000 people in emergency accommodation, with over 4,000 of them children.
Speaking to Breakingnews.ie, Mr O'Callaghan said that while more needs to be done to combat the housing crisis, he believes the Government is on the right track.
"I accept there is still a huge amount of work to do in respect of housing, but there clearly has been some progress in my opinion since Fianna Fáil took over four and a half years ago.
"If you look at the number of constructions in 2022 and 2023, we are looking at 30,000 and 32,000 respectively.
"If you look at this year, I understand from the Department of Housing we will get over 35,000. People are also availing of the Help-To-Buy scheme, and the First Home Scheme.
"We clearly need to get up to 35,000 units per annum, but we are heading in that trajectory.
"If you read Eoghan Murphy's book, you can see the difference that can happen when a party is committed to trying to come up with radical resolutions in respect of the problem."
Mr O'Callaghan said increasing supply is the key to ending the housing crisis, and backed the claims by the Tánaiste Micheal Martin and the Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien that prices will drop after 45,000 houses per year are built.
When asked about young people unable to afford houses due to increasing prices, the Fianna Fáil TD said supply is the only way for prices to drop.
"The only way this problem is going to be resolved, and I think all the political parties recognise this, is we need to get supply up more. So really the political debate is how we get supply up more.
"All I would say to young people is supply is increasing, and the resolution to this is increasing supply.
"It is a crisis all throughout the world, but I believe we are going in the right direction with this extraordinary challenge.
"I emphasise with young people who want to get on the housing ladder, and all I can say there are mechanisms that have been put in place by Fianna Fáil and the Government to them."
One of the standout parts of the Fianna Fáil manifesto is the decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use of small amounts of cannabis.
The party said it will introduce legislation to require those found in possession of illegal drugs for personal use to attend educational or treatment programmes.
The Dublin Bay South TD says that while people need to remember the danger of drugs, he says imposing a criminal sanction on people with addiction issues may not be the best idea.
"I think it is important when people are told about the Fianna Fáil manifesto, that they are aware of our policy in respect of drugs. That policy is that drugs destroy lives and communities, they inflict huge damage on our towns and cities, and we should be warning young people of the dangers of drugs.
"There are people who have addiction issues, imposing a criminal sanction on them may not achieve anything.
"This was a proposal that was put forward by the Citizens Assembly on drugs last January. When it was announced, nobody made any particular comment about it, there was no hugely negative political response to it.
"It has led to a discussion about drugs, and whoever is in the next government needs to recognise the damage that has been inflicted on our society by drugs. There are no simple solutions as to how this can be resolved."
