Darragh O’Brien has been slammed for introducing a new “sweetheart deal” for developers in his new affordable housing bill.
Sinn Féin housing spokesman, Eoin Ó Broin, has accused the Minister for Housing of looking after builders ahead of homeowners.
The new Housing for All programme contains a pledge to make at least 20% of housing in new developments affordable and social housing.
But this does not apply to all projects that have started the planning process and there is a get-out clause for all others who have bought land in the last six years.
They have until the summer of 2026 to get in applications that would only oblige them to a 10% social/affordable housing commitment.
Mr Ó Broin is introducing new legislation that would get rid of this loophole and he said he is looking forward to seeing it debated in the Dáil.
He told the Irish Mirror: “When we read through the small print of Housing for All we discovered what was essentially another sweetheart deal for landowners.
“As people know, many of us have been calling for an increase in the Part V allocation, whereby 10% of all new private developments are allocated for social housing, it used to be 20% for social and affordable, but Fine Gael and Labour cut it down to 10% and we’ve long argued, in fact had a Bill passed in the last Dáil to return it to its higher level.
Darragh O’Brien in the Affordable Housing Bill brought forward amendments to increase it to 20%, yet when we read the small print of the plan over the weekend, we actually realised that the extra 10% of affordable housing won’t actually start to come on stream until 2026.”
He added: “There is a desperate need for affordable homes now.
“At the time the Bill was being rammed through I cautioned the government against this approach and raised concerns about the amendments, while also requesting a briefing from the Minister.
“Unfortunately, none was forthcoming.
“The Bill I am introducing today is a simple piece of legislation, which removes this exemption to developers.
“Without this change being made to the Affordable Housing Act, the government capitulation to developers and investors has effectively rendered the Part V increase to 20% meaningless as it will not start to appear until after 2026.”
“Five years is a long time to wait for those who have already been struggling for years to access affordable housing and this is another example of bad policy from a government who clearly doesn’t understand the urgent level of housing need out there.”
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