Housing has to be at the top of list of Ireland's priorities

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar finally admitted this week that the Government did not meet its social housing target for 2022.

- CIAN O’CALLAGHAN

This is likely to be the first of many such admissions as it has been clear for some time that they are also far off hitting delivery targets for cost rental and affordable purchase homes.

Even if the Government were to start meeting their targets, it would still not be nearly enough to tackle the housing crisis.

A research report from the Housing Commission, presented to Minister Darragh O’Brien, suggested Ireland needs up to 62,000 new homes every year to keep up with demand.

This is almost double the 33,000 annual target laid out in the Government’s Housing for All plan.

According to the latest figures, there are now 11,632 people living in emergency accommodation.

Shamefully, 3,442 of them are children – a 40% rise in just one year.

This is the cold face of the Government’s failure to get to grips with the housing disaster, which is negatively impacting people’s lives on a daily basis.