Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he will not debate the housing crisis with President Michael D Higgins despite Government Ministers “embarrassed” over the “public scolding.”
It comes as well-known homeless campaigner Fr Peter McVerry backed President Higgins, who called the housing situation a “disaster” and "our great, great failure.”
Opposition TDs blasted the Government on Wednesday in the Dáil, stating President Higgins had “come out and called you to account.”
Read More: Taoiseach refuses to 'debate' with President Michael D Higgins over housing comments
When asked if he accepted President Higgins' description that housing in Ireland was a “disaster,” an agitated Micheál Martin said: “It is not appropriate for me to engage in any debate with the President nor do I intend to do so.
“If you want to ask me [questions] about housing, I’ll take those and as I have said when I became Taoiseach, the number one issue I said we have to face is housing.
“If you’re asking me a question more generally about housing, I said when I was elected as Taoiseach that the greatest, single social crisis facing our country was housing and that is the priority of the Government and remains the priority of the Government and the Housing for All strategy represents the most comprehensible strategy in recent years that has been put forward to deal with a very serious crisis that’s facing so many people.”
Two Cabinet sources admitted that President Higgins was only stating the obvious about the housing crisis, with one source saying “it is a win for Opposition TDs because Michael D is seen as a national treasure.”
While the second source added that although “everyone is aware of how bad the housing issue is, it was very much so embarrassing given it was a very public scolding.”
When asked if President Higgins’ spoke out of line, Tanáiste Leo Varadkar said: “The President is somebody who's always been and often outspoken in his views because he’s the President, he’s above politics, above party politics and is immune in many ways of criticism and scrutiny so I’m not going to be critical of him in any way.
“I think some of what he said was true quite frankly.
“The housing crisis is a disaster for a lot of people.”
Mr Varadkar admitted couples who have “decent jobs” are unable to afford a home and some tenants are paying half their income on rent.
He said “that wasn’t the case for most of our history and to me that’s a social disaster you know people who are working hard to have decent incomes, can’t afford to buy a home and many are so frustrated at that they’re even willing to turn to populism and nationalism and euroscepticism as a solution and in that scenario they may lose their job as well as their house but that is a disaster in my view.”
The Fine Gael leader said the housing crisis is the failure of successive Governments and when put to him that his party was the cause of the crisis, Mr Varadkar told Newstalk: “I don’t think we’re responsible for the construction bubble and the housing crash and all of the things that happened.
“Part of the reason why we have the housing crisis that we have is because 12 years ago we had a housing bubble, a banking and construction collapse and I certainly wasn’t responsible for that.
“We are responsible for fixing the problem.”
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald commended President Higgins for speaking out and despite stating the “blindingly obvious” he “somehow gets criticised for that.”
Fianna Fáil TD James Lawless said the President's comments on housing were "unprecedented perhaps, but not necessarily unconstitutional."
Speaking to RTÉ, he said: "I get the impression on a human level, this is a man who has served probably two thirds of his double term of 14 years, coming into his final couple of years of his term, who probably has a passion, who probably has a desire to make his mark and say his piece and is probably cutting it, I suppose, mixing it a little bit fast and loose with the protocols.”
Meanwhile, homeless campaigner Fr Peter McVerry said the political reaction to President Higgins’ comments have not been surprising.
He said: “Ministers are always going to be embarrassed when somebody as prominent as the President criticises them.
“But I think they have to look at the criticism and ask themselves how valid it is and ask themselves what they can do about it instead of just going on the attack and attacking the President.
“What distresses me most of all is the lack of any urgency about addressing this problem.”
He said there has been an increase in the number of “petrified” elderly people seeking help due to their landlord selling their rental property and have “absolutely nowhere to go'' and are “petrified of going into hostels.”
He added: “The problem of homelessness now is no longer confined to poor people or people with addictions or mental health.”
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
