A collapse in commencements in 2025 is hugely concerning and means the government has no hope of meeting its housing targets, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne said:<\/p>\n
\u201cA new report from Irish banks, which shows housing commencements declined by more than 75% in 2025, is deeply concerning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some areas, such as Fingal and South Dublin, the decline was as high as 84% – an effective collapse in commencements,<\/p>\n
\u201cIn total, there were just over 16,000 housing commencements last year, down from more than 69,300 in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be noted that a waiver of development levies, which expired in 2024, artificially inflated commencement figures that year just in time for the 2024 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis distortion of housing supply statistics, to flatter the government, made it look like supply was ballooning. Coupled with government claims that 40,000 homes would be delivered that year, voters were led to believe the tide was turning in housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, now it\u2019s clear that voters were deliberately misled and these latest dire commencement figures mean the government has no hope of meeting its own housing targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith its housing plan an unmitigated disaster, desperation in government is now sitting in. This is why all of the Housing Minister\u2019s eggs are being placed in the vulture fund basket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, the Minister has gone to Cannes to seek to entice vulture funds to invest more in Ireland – building shoebox rental only properties that only those on the highest incomes could ever afford to live in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis government has proven itself incapable, year after year, of doing what needs to be done – delivering homes, at scale, that people on average incomes can actually afford to buy.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of doubling down on failure, these latest dire commencement figures should be the catalyst for a radical change in approach from the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Democrats have detailed policies that could make a huge difference and which the government could adopt. These include the creation of a state construction company; acquiring four modular home factories and a state savings scheme to turbocharge the delivery of social and affordable homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 12th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A collapse in commencements in 2025 is hugely concerning and means the government has no hope of meeting its housing targets, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne said: \u201cA new report from Irish banks, which shows housing commencements declined by more than 75% in 2025, is deeply concerning. \u201cIn some areas, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n