Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government regards the issue of housing as its “number one priority” and that it will be doing everything it possibly can to provide housing for people.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet this morning, Mr Martin said the country needs to get supply up, and that the Government has committed to the largest social housing programme in the history of the State.
The Cabinet meets at Dublin Castle later today where it is expected that Ministers will assess how to prevent international investment funds block-buying in new housing estates.
Mr Martin said that over the next five years over 50,000 social housing units will be built.
The Taoiseach added that the Government needs to do more in providing affordable housing and to give first-time buyers priority in the marketplace.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government regards the issue of housing as its ‘number one priority’.
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting he said the Government needs to do more to provide affordable housing | Read more: https://t.co/MjHFwi2Uerpic.twitter.com/gzz59YbcEe
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 11, 2021
He said the immediate issue is to deal with the issue of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and their impact on first-time buyers, and that this will be discussed at Cabinet.
Also speaking on his way into Cabinet, Green Party Leader and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said there is a “real crisis in housing” and that “a whole lot more” is needed to address the situation.
“We’ve done a lot in the last year and a half to look after our older people changing everything,” he said, adding younger people need to be given a secure future.
He said there is a “new plan coming” but that it will take time to get it right.
Proposed changes to planning rules and tax code are unlikely to be decided at the meeting
Other issues to be discussed at Cabinet include legislation on whistleblowers, tackling human trafficking and addressing the right of access for adopted people to birth certs, early life and other information.
Ministers say they will ensure that first-time buyers are afforded some protection from so-called cuckoo funds, however the proposed changes to planning rules and tax code are unlikely to be decided at this meeting.
Sinn Féin will use its Dáil time to highlight the issue this evening.
Also at the meeting, Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath is expected to bring measures to Cabinet which would ensure that recipients of protected disclosures are obliged to provide feedback to any whistleblower within three months – currently no deadline applies.
It is believed that Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton will unveil plans to make it easier for victims of human trafficking to be officially recognised by the State, and therefore able to receive appropriate supports more speedily.
Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman is likely to address the right of access for adopted people to birth certs, early life and other information, as well as separate statutory services for contact tracing and measures on protecting records.
Meanwhile, it is anticipated Minister of State Josepha Madigan, who has responsibility for special education, will outline plans for nearly a four-fold increase in this year’s Summer Provision programme.
Water charges ‘will not be coming back’, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
He was speaking following a suggestion by the OECD yesterday that the country needs to reconsider the introduction of domestic water charges | Read more: https://t.co/MjHFwi2Uerpic.twitter.com/OcJLYvCEqd
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 11, 2021
Elsewhere, on a suggestion by the OECD yesterday that the country needs to reconsider the introduction of domestic water charges, the Taoiseach said the Government will not be “going back” and trying to reintroduce water charges.
Mr Martin said the Government have been investing strongly in water infrastructure and will continue to do so, but that water charges “will not be coming back”.
Mr Ryan had said “we will not be going back to the water charges issue” and that the Oireachtas all-party committee has a plan in relation to water infrastructure and will “stick to that”.
Mr Ryan said he was not surprised by the OECD’s position but that the political system in Ireland spent a lot of time on this and came to “an appropriate conclusion”.
He added that the latest OECD review into Ireland is a “very good report” and “backs up a lot of what we are doing”.
Additional reporting Paul Cunningham
