Councils to defend housing records as Sinn Fein seek Murphy resignation

Mr Murphy wrote to three of the four Dublin councils last week threatening to remove some of their powers if they do not take immediate action to increase provision of homeless family hubs.

A number of councillors have hit back at Mr Murphy, who is facing a Dáil motion of no confidence.

Fingal County Council chief executive Paul Reid said he was “shocked and surprised” by Mr Murphy’s comments, claiming the authority had surpassed its targets.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin entered the fray by claiming it was “shocking to see last week the minister and Taoiseach trying to blame local authorities for their own shortcomings in the housing crisis”.

Mr Murphy set a deadline of today to reply to his ultimatum. Local authorities are expected to mount strong defences of their records.

Separately, Mr Murphy faced calls from Sinn Féin to step aside to allow for an entirely new approach to solve the housing crisis

Sinn Féin has published a motion of no confidence in Mr Murphy which calls for a dramatic shift in policy and an overhaul of the Government’s Rebuilding Housing plan.

Housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said: “Eoghan Murphy isn’t up for the job. I believe he has shown himself to be out of touch and out of his depth.

Mr Murphy said Sinn Fein has spent months playing “bad politics” and that the motion was “devoid of solutions and will not take a single person off our streets”.

While the motion will be tabled and debated in the Dáil on September 25, Fianna Fáil has already said it will not support it, which Mr Ó Broin strongly criticised.

Meanwhile, Mr Murphy is to bring plans for a Land Development Agency in a bid to tackle the housing crisis to the Cabinet today.

The agency will be given €1.25bn to build social and affordable homes, as well as private housing and rental properties on both State and privately owned property.

At the Fine Gael think-in in Galway last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described it as a “step change” in the Government’s involvement in the housing market and, in time, would be seen as being as significant as the decision to establish the ESB, Aer Lingus, or the IDA.

It comes as the CSO Residential Property Price Index found that in the year to July, residential property prices increased by 10.4%. This compares with a rise of 11.9% in the year to June and an increase of 11.6% in the 12 months from July 2017.

Pat Davitt, chief executive of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, said there is still a shortage of homes.

He pointed to the CSO figures showing that of the 4,104 dwelling purchases filed with the Revenue Commissioners in July, only one in five was for a new dwelling.

Mr Davitt said: “This is where the real problem is. There are simply not enough new dwellings available for purchase.”