Construction BUSINESS

Darragh O’Brien has admitted house prices will continue to rise this year.

The Minister for Housing has conceded that the crisis in housing, which is seeing Generation Rent trapped in rental accommodation, or at home with Mammy and Daddy, will not be fixed soon.

Mr O’Brien said that we are in “a very, very hot market” right now, for sought-after secondhand homes in particular, and said that there is “no quick fix” to resolve the crisis.

Mr O’Brien also defended comments he made when he was opposition housing spokesman – and regularly attacked Fine Gael housing ministers in debate – when he accused then-Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, of “weasel words” when Mr Varadkar said there was “no silver bullet” solution to the crisis.

Mr O’Brien said on Wednesday: “There’s a reality right now that we’re coming out of a pandemic.

“We’ve never had two construction shutdowns that we’ve had.

“Everyone knows you don’t fix housing overnight.

“What I’ve said in the past was one small comment in a number of years of debating.

“Most people realise that we need a lot of things to sort the housing crisis.

“We’ve published the Housing for All plan, where we plan to deliver 33,000 homes a year on average.

“Housing for All will have a very significant effect in stabilising our housing sector.”

Mr O’Brien was speaking during an in-depth interview on the Today with Claire Byrne Show on RTE Radio One on Wednesday morning.

He was asked bluntly if we had reached a peak in housing prices and whether they would soon fall, and he replied: “In the short term, no.

“”Is it going to be fixed in 2022? No.

“Is the situation going to be better by the end of the year? Yes, I believe so.

“I would say most people who are out there, they want to be able to own their own home. So, that’s something we support.

“We have a lot of people out there renting who don’t want to be renting.

“Their rents are too high and they want stability.”

Mr O’Brien then used the same ‘silver bullet’ analogy which he had criticised Mr Varadkar for using in the past.

He said: “I understand why people look at things in despair. It’s really tough now. https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishmirror.ie%2Fnews%2Firish-news%2Fpolitics%2Fhousing-minister-darragh-obrien-admits-26120561&cre=bottom&cip=35&view=web

“The average age of homeowners is now 36.

“We haven’t had a focus on affordable housing in the last 10 years.

“Our housing plan will make a difference in the short and medium term. We’ll see incremental improvements.

“There is no silver bullet, but we have a plan in place.

“It is the number one issue for the Government.”

Source Irish Mirror