Opposition leader accuses Government of 'abandoning' new home targets

By Bairbre Holmes, PA

Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said the Government has “abandoned” annual targets for new home building.

It comes as opposition leaders have clashed with the Taoiseach over housing after the publication of the Government’s new plan on Thursday.

Speaking at Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, Labour's Ivana Bacik described it as “old milk in new bottles”.

She said there was: “Nothing new on affordable home ownership, no clarity on what new powers the Land Development Agency will have, and no ambition on social housing”

Micheál Martin hit back, saying she “told an untruth” when she said “the Government had no social housing targets”.

He said the Government had a plan to deliver 12,000 new social homes “every year over the lifetime of the plan”.

Ms Bacik also criticised a plan to reduce minimum apartment standards, which she said the Government “backed down in the courts on Monday”.

The Taoiseach responded, saying it had been put forward because the government wanted to “narrow the viability gap when it came to building apartments”.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns, continued in the same vein.

She asked the Taoiseach why annual house building targets were not included in the Government’s plans and why the overall target “goes beyond the lifetime of this Government”.

Mr Martin claimed that under the previous plan, Housing for All, the Government “exceeded” its targets, describing it as an “inconvenient truth for the opposition”.