Taoiseach Micheál Martin refused to be drawn into the controversy over President Michael D Higgins’ comments about the State’s “housing disaster”, repeatedly declining to comment on whether he thought the President had exceeded his constitutional powers by speaking on a political issue.
“First of all, I am not going to engage in accordance with noble precedent here and tradition in any shape or form, I am not going to engage in any debate with the President,” said Mr Martin when asked about the issue on Wednesday after delivering the opening address at conference on the Civil War at University College Cork (UCC).
“That would not be appropriate at all. I have regular engagements with the President on a whole range of issues in relation to the Constitution, so I am not going to engage in any debate on that.
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“It is not appropriate for me to engage in any debate with the President nor do I intend to do so. I am not going into a debate with the President – if you want to ask me questions about housing I will take those,” he told reporters at UCC.
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In off-script remarks at the opening of the redeveloped Jigginstown Manor and its conversion into the Tiglin facility for homeless youth in Co Kildare on Tuesday, the President identified the State’s failure to provide housing for so many of its citizens as its greatest failure.
“Speaking ever more frankly in relation to housing because I think it is our great, great, great failure... It isn’t a crisis anymore, it is a disaster and I think we have to really think about meeting the basic needs of people in a republic, be it about food and sheltered and education,” Mr Higgins said.
Although the Taoiseach would not be drawn on the President’s comments, he said he would speak about housing generally and proceeded to defend the Government’s handling of the housing crisis which has seen the number of homeless people in the State recently rise above 10,000 again.
“I said when I was elected as Taoiseach that the greatest single social crisis facing our country was housing. That is the priority of Government and remains the priority of Government,” said Mr Martin.
“We have a clear plan with clear Government resources – €4 billion per annum over the next five years alone – which is very substantial. The issue now is delivery, I am glad to see we are getting a lot of social housing projects underway.
“We are working very well with public housing bodies and local authorities to get more and more housing into the system. It is about supply. The Housing for All strategy represents the most comprehensive strategy in recent years that has been put forward to deal with a very, very serious crisis which is facing so many people.
“Also, to say now that the State is the single largest actor in house building in the country. This year, towards the end of 2022, we will have a record number of social houses built in the country through approved social housing bodies and through local authorities.
“We want to maintain that level of social housing right throughout the next five years – that is why in the National Development Plan – Minister for [Public Expenditure] Michael McGrath has allocated €4 billion per annum towards the realisation of the Housing for All strategy.
“That involves substantial numbers of social houses, hopefully getting towards 8,500 this year, but also affordable housing, cost rental which is a new model and also there will be housing provided by the private sector as well.
“In terms of the positives, this year represents the largest number of March-to-March commencements in terms of housing that we have seen since 2008. But we do need to be getting to around 33,000 to 35,000 [units] per annum, and be consistently at that then over the next 10 years to put a dent into what is a very, very serious social crisis.”
