Dáil Housing motion sets out Labour’s case for radical change – not more pandering to private investors

Conor Sheehan

10 February 2025

• Labour’s first Private Members motion of new Dáil term to be debated on Wednesday morning.
• Housing crisis demands a radical reset as FF and FG fail to resolve crisis after a decade of power.
• Plan to replace Rent Pressure Zones is another sop to private developers with young renters forced to pay higher prices.

Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has said the government has no new ideas on how to solve the housing crisis and build enough homes to meet demand, as Labour’s first motion of the new Dáil term comes before the Dáil this Wednesday.

Under Housing for All, the Government projected 33,450 new homes for 2024, yet just 30,030 were built – a 6.7% decrease on 2023. With broad agreement that at least 50,000 homes are needed annually, Labour is calling for urgent policy changes to address the housing emergency.

Deputy Sheehan said:

“For nearly a decade FF and FG have shared power, and they have totally failed to put in place the policy measures and resources necessary to resolve the housing crisis. They have no new ideas, and prefer to take pot shots at Opposition parties rather than take on the proposals we have outlined to build more homes, provide security for renters and break their over-reliance on the private sector.

“The Government can’t even meet their own inadequate housing targets and misled the public in advance of the general election by repeatedly saying close to 40,000 homes would be built in 2024. Despite a projected 33,450 new homes under Housing for All, only 30,030 were built in 2023 – a 6.7% drop. Meanwhile, every credible expert agrees that at least 50,000 homes must be built annually to meet demand. The current approach is simply not working.

“The Housing Commission itself has made it clear: we need a radical strategic reset of housing policy. Unless there is a fundamental shift in approach, the Government will fall far short of its 41,000 target for this year – and will continue to fail in the years to come.

“It now appears they plan to get rid of rent pressure zones due to lobbying from private investors. The result of this will be even higher rents for young people already paying record rates. The government parties have consistently bowed to the demands of investors and speculators with changes to planning and development rules that have year after year failed to deliver the level of housing needed. There’s no evidence to indicate anything will change unless the State steps up and takes a more central role in the delivery and funding of housing developed.  

“The new government approach will be to line the pockets of investors with higher rents paid by young workers.”

Deputy Sheehan continued:

“We have all seen the shocking scale of vacancy and dereliction tolerated in Dublin and highlighted in the media this weekend. This crisis is not an accident of the economy – it is a political failure. FF and FG’s ideological obsession with the private market has left the State without the capacity to deliver the homes people need.

“The solution is clear. The State must take a far more active role in housing delivery. Labour is calling for the Land Development Agency to be properly resourced, given the power to compulsorily purchase private land, and transformed over time into a State Construction Company with the ability to directly build public homes at scale.

“But there are other political choices that could be made today:

• Devolve more power to local authorities, introduce a streamlined single-stage approval process for social homes, and fund the upfront delivery of community infrastructure.

• Introduce a land price register and bring down house prices by implementing the Kenny Report’s recommendations, land value sharing, and a dedicated land management unit within every local authority.

• Grow the construction workforce by introducing a minimum wage for craft apprentices and expanding training supports.

“This Government is failing to deliver for renters, first-time buyers, and families stuck in limbo. Labour’s motion calls for a fundamental change of direction – one that prioritises public housing delivery over developer profits.”

Labour is urging all parties to support its motion in the Dáil. Housing for All has manifestly failed, and unless the Government changes course, the housing crisis will only deepen. It’s time for action, not excuses.”

ENDS

The full text of Labour’s motion to be debated at 10am on Wednesday is:

Motion re: Housing

That Dáil Éireann:

Recalls that:

• under Housing for All, the failed housing plan of the last government a target of 33,450 new homes were projected for 2024 but only 30,030 homes were built, a decrease of 6.7% on 2023, while the construction of new apartments fell by almost a quarter;
• the last Minister for Housing told the Dáil in October 2024 ‘I have consistently said we will exceed that target. I still confidently predict … that it will be the high 30,000s to low 40,000s this year. There will be record completions in the last quarter of this year.’;
• the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both repeatedly claimed in advance of, and through the general election campaign that up to 40,000 homes would be built in 2024;

Recognises that:

• there is broad agreement that at least 50,000 new homes a year must be built but there is fundamental disagreement on the policies necessary to achieve that;
• unless there is radical change to the existing housing plan and the commitments in the programme for government that nowhere near 41,000 new homes will be delivered in 2025, or higher figures in the years that follow;

notes that:

• the Housing Commission report said that a “radical strategic reset” of housing policy is required to solve the current crisis;
• Ireland currently has a shortfall of at least 250,000 homes and Housing Commission research has outlined how Ireland may require up to 62,000 new homes per year up to 2050, while recent estimates suggest we will require more than 90,000 per year to address the housing shortfall;
• in the past year alone, house prices have risen by almost 10%, while rent prices have risen by 8%, and since the introduction of Housing for All in September 2021, both have risen by more than a quarter;
• nearly 70% of 25 year-olds in Ireland are stuck living at home with their parents;
• the number of people accessing emergency accommodation exceeded 15,000 people for the first time in November 2024 – including more than 4,600 children – after rising persistently over the course of the implementation of the Housing for All plan, and official homelessness figures do not account for the many more people sleeping rough or the hidden homeless, such as those forced to couch surf, live in hostels or adults unable to move out of their family home due to prohibitive rent and house prices;
• the vast majority of people and families accessing emergency accommodation come from the private rental sector, and Ireland’s homelessness crisis is exacerbated by weak tenancy rights;

acknowledges that:

• Housing for All has manifestly failed to deliver enough new housing to meet demand and tackle the housing crisis;
• the previous Government ignored warnings and advice from the Housing Commission and other industry experts with regards to both housing targets and the appropriate model of delivery;
• The private sector developer-led model of construction cannot deliver the quantity of homes necessary to meet demand;
• demand side measures like the Help to Buy scheme and the shared equity scheme have inflated house prices and will continue to do so, and disproportionately benefit those on higher incomes;

agrees that:

• the new Government must change course and ensure a State-led approach to solving the housing crisis;
• public housing should be defined as high-quality sustainable housing for all citizens regardless of income that is rented from one’s local authority or its nominees (AHBs) to affordably and securely provide for one’s particular housing needs’;

calls on Government to:

• take a more active role in the delivery of housing by properly resourcing the LDA, expand its power to CPO private land and assemble sites, and transform it over time into a State Construction Company to provide a permanent state capacity to deliver direct build homes and rebalance the housing system;
• reverse the increasing centralisation of housing responsibilities by devolving more power to local authorities, introduce a single stage approval process and a single set of standardised design guidelines for low-cost energy efficient social homes, and resource the upfront delivery of community infrastructure where new homes are built;
• introduce a land price register and bring down house prices by giving effect to the recommendations of the Kenny report, implement land value sharing, and establish a land management and acquisition section within each local authority to ensure land availability to meet future public housing demands;
• grow the construction workforce, starting with a minimum wage for craft apprentices;
• develop new financing mechanisms for private home construction and Approved Housing Bodies by deploying the billions invested in the Future Ireland Fund, unlock private savings through a Housing Solidarity Bond, and provide further opportunities for Credit Unions to underwrite mortgages and invest in housing;
• phase out inflationary measures like the Help to Buy scheme that disproportionately benefit those on higher incomes and replace them with more income-targeted supports;
• ban no fault evictions and significantly restrict the ability of landlords to evict tenants on the basis of moving a family member into the house;
• expand the tenant-in-situ scheme and the Housing First scheme with wraparound supports for those exiting homelessness;
• move quickly to deploy the Apple windfall to build more homes through the LDA, and expand the capacity of the water and electricity networks.

Conor Sheehan, Ciarán Ahern, Ivana Bacik, Alan Kelly, Eoghan Kenny, George Lawlor, Ged Nash, Robert O’Donoghue, Marie Sherlock, Duncan Smith, Mark Wall.