Aontú Leader has reacted to the news from the CSO that the number of homes built last year decreased by 6.7% from 2023, with a 24% fall in the number of apartments built – despite Ministers and Government TDs boasting they would exceed the previous year’s numbers, as ‘shocking’ in the middle of a housing crisis.
The Meath West TD said:
“For the last year, particularly through the recent election campaign, Ministers and government TDs have been optimistically predicting that more homes would have been built than in 2023, demonstrating that their efforts in housing were paying off. The report by the CSO this morning contradicts all of that – and on the day the same government is being put in place.
The number of single dwellings built fell by 2.2%, with apartments completed down almost a quarter since 2023. In October, November, and December 2024 there were 8,732 completions, a fall of 14.5% from the fourth quarter of 2023.
This is a shocking indictment of a housing policy that is clearly not delivering at the pace required to address our housing crisis, with many young people unable to secure a home. Many younger people and young couples will consider an apartment as their first home, and yet there has been a dramatic fall in their construction. The incoming government needs firstly to answer as to why, despite their claims, these figures are on the downward trajectory, and what they will do to reserve course and actually deliver on their own targets.”
