The Department of Housing has defended a €1bn underspend as it blamed COVID-19, inflation and the war in Ukraine for the unused funds.
Figures released to Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin in a parliamentary question response revealed that large levels of money went unspent between 2020 and 2022.
The money, he claimed, could have built 4,000 social homes.
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Labour leader Ivana Bacik, meanwhile, suggested that the underspend indicated that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien was “out of his depth”.
The total underspend on the capital budget, which funds major projects, was €1,517,999.
Some €1bn went unspent on social and affordable housing delivery.
The figures for 2022, show that of the Department’s €2.46bn housing funding, almost half a billion (€471m) was not used. This is compared to €92m in 2020.
Deputy Ó Broin suggested that the underspend was contributing to homelessness.
“While COVID-19 construction site restrictions were a factor, they are not the main reason why so much money for social and affordable housing is being underspent,” he said.
“Nor does it explain why the annual underspend is increasing each year, even after COVID.
“Indeed, information released by the Department of Finance this week shows the trend has continued into 2023 with a 29% capital underspend in the Department of Housing in the first three months of this year.
“The level of red tape and delay imposed on Local Authorities and Approved Housing bodies by the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is the principal problem.
“The unspent capital funding could have delivered at least an additional 4,000 social and affordable homes.”
The underspending was, however, defended by the Department of Housing as they argued that “almost €3.5bn” was spent on housing in 2022.
A spokesperson said spending on housing between 2029 and 2022 was a “direct result” of COVID-19 restrictions placed on the construction sector and the “unprecedented and unexpected challenges arising from the Russian war on Ukraine”.
“This resulted in delays in the pace of project completion due to the need to address the negative impacts on construction cost inflation, energy and fuel prices and supply chain issues etc.”
Labour’s Ivana Bacik said that while she was “shocked” by the underspend, she was not “surprised”.
She also suggested that Minister O’Brien was “out of his depth”.
“This Government has consistently failed to live up to its own hype. We all accept that it takes time to build a home but to see the shocking failure to control the controllables and spend money on what is the crisis of our lifetime is nothing short of a disgrace.”
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