Eoghan Murphy needs to increase emergency housing targets, Councillor says
The chairman of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council says the Minister for Housing needs to increase targets for emergency housing.
Eoghan Murphy has written to the four local authorities in Dublin, criticising their apparent failure to meet targets on emergency accommodation.
The under-pressure Minister has asked that a list of potential sites and locations be provided to his officials in the coming days.
He also said he would use emergency powers to transfer responsibility for providing emergency accommodation to his department.
Councillor Ossian Smyth says they have actually exceeded their targets on housing provision.
"We've built far more houses, we've delivered far more housing, than we were asked to do but the problem is that that hasn't been enough," he said.
"We actually need to go further, there are large vacant sites that belong to the Central Bank, to Horse Racing Ireland, and to other parts of the Government which we could build on hundreds of apartments."
"I would love to meet the minister, discuss those sites, and get building on them rather than blaming each other for what's gone wrong in the past," he said.
