Leo Varadkar promised a “Covid-style” response to the housing crisis yesterday.
The Taoiseach claimed it is one of the most pressing areas he wishes to concentrate on in his second term. At the annual roundtable Christmas interview Mr Varadkar said a firm “can-do attitude” was needed to tackle housing.
He added: “During Covid we subordinated almost everything else to the battle against the pandemic. So we closed schools, we stopped cancer screening, we stopped housing construction, or at least private housing construction, we took away people’s personal liberties.
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“That’s not what I mean, in terms of Covid-type response. What I do mean is a can-do attitude. And I think sometimes in government we’re too willing to say that things can’t be done, because of public finances, because of state aid rules, or because of the Constitution, or because of something else.
“I’m not willing to accept that, when it comes to housing, we need to turn the corner. It is an emergency, it’s affecting people in so many different ways.
“It’s holding us back as a country, and it’s causing intergenerational division that I don’t like to see. It’s really going to be a case of let’s do everything, unless there’s a really good reason as to why we can’t.”
Mr Varadkar also addressed Ireland’s response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. It is estimated there will be up to 70,000 refugees being housed here by the State and kind homeowners.
And Mr Varadkar said that we have to plan for managing this through 2023, and beyond. He added: “I think, you know, 60,000 to 70,000 here already and there are going to be more, I think a lot of them are going to stay, they’re going to be here for the medium to long term.
“And we will need to move to an approach next year that isn’t just about an emergency response, humanitarian responses, but is more about permanent housing solutions. And that’s what we’re going to do in the next couple of months.
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“There are people here for example, 5,000 people still living in Direct Provision who have status, it’d be good if we could find a way to accommodate them to free up those places. And then also there are a lot of Irish people, Irish citizens and EU citizens that are on housing lists for a very long time. So we need to make sure that we’re fair to everyone.”
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