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LAST UPDATE | 2 Nov 2022
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN says that housing targets for 2022 will be exceeded, as the Government is set to undertake a review of the private rental market next year.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien updated Cabinet on the Housing for All plan this morning, saying that targets for 2022 are set to be exceeded.
However, the Government has said that the plan will be updated due to changed circumstances, including the rising cost of construction and the war in Ukraine.
Under the plan, there are to be over 24,600 new build homes constructed across Ireland by the end of the year.
As of the end of September, there have been 20,807 new homes completed. This is slightly higher than the number of homes completed in 2021, where the Central Statistics Office (CSO) recorded 20,560 homes being built.
According to the CSO, there were 7,544 new homes completed in the third quarter of 2022.
In particular, the number of apartments built in Q3 are up significantly compared to the same period in 2021. In Q3 2022, there were 2,445 apartments built and in Q3 2021 there were only 965 apartments built.
Martin and O’Brien told Cabinet Ministers this morning that there have been over 21,000 new homes started between January and September.
There are also over 8,200 social homes under construction.
The CSO has also said that there was planning permission granted for 19,837 new homes in the first half of 2022.
The updated plan will also include a review of the current private rental market, which is set to be commissioned by the Department of Housing early next year.
The Government expects to have this review completed ahead of Budget 2024.
It comes as recent reports have shown that there have record shortages in the number of rental properties available to rent, with the latest Daft.ie report showing there were only 716 homes available on 1 August.
Draft legislation on reforming the current planning system is also expected to be brought to the Government for consideration before the end of the year, after a review was started last September.
The plan is seeking to make the planning system “more accessible” for the public.
This is set to include streamline both Compulsive Purchase Orders and Judicial Review processes.
The update comes as the Taoiseach spoke in Mulhuddart in Dublin yesterday at the launch of over 60 new social homes.
He told reporters that next year’s housing targets will be more difficult to achieve, with over 29,000 homes needed to be constructed.
“That means we have to be constantly looking at ways to do things in a more timely way,” Martin said.
COP27
The Government also signed off on Ireland’s agenda at Cop27 in Egypt next week.
Environment Minister Eamon Ryan is expected to attend the event.
It comes a year on from his attendance at Cop26, which was disrupted with issues around Covid-19 testing.
Ryan was given authority by the Government today to represent Ireland’s interest at COP27, allowing him to join or support any international climate initiative or coalition as appropriate, both in advance of and during the meeting.
Overall, the Cabinet memo today provided for Ireland to participate fully at COP27.
It outlined Ireland’s preparations and priorities for COP27, including:
This year a climate youth delegate will join Ireland’s delegation and Ireland will continue to facilitate civil society attendance and engagement at meetings.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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France. Always have been. Always will be.
@Vonvonic: seriously?
@Thomas O’ Donnell: I would agree with Vonvonic. The alliance goes back to Norman-Ireland. A lot of the Normans that settled in Ireland would have classed themselves as more French than English.
@Vonvonic: I would agree you only have to look at the Wolfe Tone connection
@Patrick Corr: it was at Fontenoy that the cry was heard, while charging at the British in the decisive rout by the Irish Brigade, Remember Limerick and Saxon Perfidy.
@Vonvonic: Bien sûr mon ami!
It has to be said that Irelands department of foreign affairs have done a great job over the past few years with the UN Security Council, the observer statuses, etc., but the reality is Ireland has lost our biggest ally in the EU now that the UK has gone and there are a few countries who have their eyes on several of Irelands laws and policies that they will target and not for Irelands benefit. The commenters on this site are 90% anti UK, and definitely anti everything the government does, so it’s not the best comment section to get a decent POV but it would be good to see if Irish people, in general, are aware of where we stand in the EU today
@Local Ore: The article addresses this, we build alliances on a policy basis rather than being wedded to any particular one on all things. This is a highly beneficial approach that creates political capital. The divergence of Ireland and the UK within the EU has been going on so long that when it they did leave, it impacted us far less than many expected. We are well able to plough our own furrow and protect our own interests, while keeping a pragmatic and flexible position in a fast changing world. We are also now the only EU member State with english as a first language. If we weren’t doing so well already, I’d go so far as to say that the UK’s act of self-isolation will be the making of Ireland.
@Eoin Roche: Ireland’s economic success is completely due to FDI. It was 288% of GDP in 2019. The UK accounts for far more of FDI than any EU country. In terms of exports, The US and The UK account for 41% of Irelands exports, France accounts for 4%… I mention this because France competes with Ireland far, far more than people think and they intend to target Irelands FDI, I have members of my team supporting French Public Sector bodies right now reviewing EU policies on how to target the €1Trn FDI Ireland gets. Think of the size of France, we import about €13bn from them, they import about €5bn from us. France and Germany plan to strengthen their ties and “leadership” (control) of the EU over the coming years, this isn’t to support “the making of Ireland”, it’s to grow themselves
@Eoin Roche: Dublin is now an outlier in an EU where reliance on foreign multinationals will no longer be ignored. These companies now account for 32 percent of all jobs in Ireland and 49 percent of employment taxes. 75 percent of recent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Ireland either comes from the U.S. (58 percent) or the U.K. (17 percent). By contrast, just 5 percent comes from Germany. Dublins Economic Model is the talking point of EU policymakers, as I mentioned, and we are already seeing it – harmonised corporation tax. Next will be FDI policy and they are already drawing it up to try to “harmonise” it toward other EU countries.
@Eoin Roche: Correction: Malta has English as a first language.
@Nick Caffrey: Correction: Maltese is the 1st language in Malta, English is 2nd and also an official language
@Local Ore: You are failing to differentiate between US FDI and UK FDI. The US is by far more important than the UK to us, no comparison. Why do you conflate two wildly different countries/economies?
@Leo Sharkey: I’m not conflating them in any way, I’m pointing out that Irelands largest investment, and trade, comes from outside the EU and was heavily protected by the UK supporting Ireland on policy and vice-versa. I’ve seen people on this site say France and Germany are major allies/supporters of Ireland and I wonder if it’s total lack of knowledge, deliberate ignorance or just the anti-UK sentiment of most of the commenters. Only in Ireland do people think Ireland is better off in the EU without the UK… it goes against all logic and facts. The EU is a body of consultation and common action between states, underpinned by legal and institutional arrangements. These arrangements are evolving in response to needs as they arise and France and Germany’s needs to do not align to Irelands.
France and Germany have supported us throughout the whole Brexit process and NI protocol . If they wavered in their support for us, the British would sense an opportunity and end up causing trouble in Northern Ireland.
We are more aligned with our Nordic blood brothers and france than any of the other countries in europe.
It is worth recalling that the old British policy of DIVIDE AND CONQUER failed when they attempted to disunite the EU approach to recent events.
It’s a right tough one, not Portugal or Spain because of the amount that go there on holiday, they know what we are like when let out. Not the French as they’ve always tried to help us but end up making a balls out of it and then think it’s our fault. Not Poland, they know what we’re like too from half of them being here at one stage. It wont be the Italians either as the blue shirts have given Mussolini’s black shirts a bad name! I’ll run out of characters soon so I’m sure others can fill in the blanks, who haven’t we pissed off?
@This time its personable!: Did you read the article? The Scandinavian and Benelux countries are our natural allies in Europe.
@JustMeHere: I did boy, I didn’t include them there I was pointing out the additional reasons why the others aren’t too for caring about us!
I would argue that Angela Merkel and Germany have been our quiet allies for 20 years, France, the Baltic, and Benelux states, but generally speaking we have good relationships with all our EU colleagues.
@Leo Sharkey: I literally work in this area of the public sector and can tell by this comment that you most definitely do not. France has been attacking Irelands tax and FDI for my entire career, the “Dublin Economy” drives them mad in Brussels. The Netherlands directly competes, and wins, in financial services with Ireland. Ireland has a deregulated, highly flexible global economy that lacks the comprehensive social protections of continental counterparts such as the Netherlands or Denmark, the model stands in stark contrast to the centralism unleashed from the Elysée. The countries you mention are highly focused on corporate and digital taxation, data protection and the further centralization of the eurozone – all massively damaging and contrasting to the Irish model.
Henry 8th’s break was the same mentality as Brexit. A difference is that Boris will not be confiscating assets of Europeans and calling it a reformation.
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