The construction industry is struggling to keep up with demand for new homes. Photograph: iStock
“The whole thing is being f**king made up as we go along, no strategising, no business plan at all,” said one builder. Funding is in place for this year and next, but the housing minister is already making a play for extra funding for this and similar schemes, targeting the State’s projected exchequer surplus.
There’s a cold political reality underpinning this: “Social housing – they’re not registered and they don’t f**king vote and if they did, they wouldn’t be for Fianna Fáil,” says one backbencher. A second phase, which O’Brien says will be open on a rolling basis with no closure date, will open shortly.There were pitched battles between O’Brien and mandarins in early Coalition budget-making over this shared equity scheme. This weekend O’Brien was bullish about the scheme, claiming it will go on longer than the three years for which it was approved.
Meanwhile, the Government continues to struggle to spend the money it has allocated to the Department of Housing. Figures shared with the Cabinet this week show the department spent 30 per cent more than last year, but this is still falling short of its own assessment of what needs to be done.