Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that housing targets need to be revised upwards as the current levels are “totally inadequate” given the current shortage.
The coalition exceeded its overall Housing for All target last year as 29,851 new homes were completed. However, several social housing targets were missed.
The target for 2023 is 29,000 new dwellings.
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The Housing for All plan predicts that an average of 33,000 new homes will be built a year between now and the rent of the decade.
However, speaking at the National Economic Dialogue, the Taoiseach said that the targets must be revised upwards.
In his opening speech, Mr Varadkar said that the country was in the middle of a “very deep housing crisis”.
“We must do whatever it takes to solve this social crisis and reverse the trend of rising homelessness and falling home ownership,” Mr Varadkar said.
“It’s also an economic concern. In a very tight labour market, we need to expand our housing stock to facilitate an expanding economy.
“Our task has been made more challenging by high levels of inward migration from Ukraine and elsewhere and a rapidly expanding population.
“We will have to revise upwards our annual targets for housing completions. We are at 30,000 a year now. Much more is achievable.”
Asked by the Irish Mirror what these increased targets would be, Mr Varadkar said that work is ongoing by both the Housing Commission and the ESRI to examine targets.
“We've had a lot of progress with housing supply,” he said.
“I know when I was first appointed to Government there were only about 7,000 new homes being built a year. It's now 30,000, a four-fold increase in the number of new homes being built.
“But [it is] totally inadequate given the deficit of housing and the enormous housing need in the country.
“I’d like to see us ramping up as fast as we can. The current target is to get to 40,000 before the end of the decade.
“I think we're at 30,000 now, surely we can get to 40,000 sooner.”
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, meanwhile, said that the Government is likely to hit its targets for new apprentices earlier than anticipated.
The lack of available labour has been flagged by groups when housing targets are discussed.
Mr Harris said: “We set ourselves a target of over 10,000 new apprentices registered every year in the country by 2025.
“I think we're very much on track to hit that. I'm actually hopeful that we’ll hit it a year early.
“I think this year we're likely to break 9,000 new registered apprentices.
“We want to continue to work with industry. We want to make it as easy as possible to become an apprentice.”
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