During the general election campaign, the Taoiseach, along with the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, and his Ministers, repeatedly claimed that 40,000 homes would be delivered in 2024. This was a ploy to fool people into believing that the Government had made real progress on housing. Of course, we all knew it was bull. We now know that, in fact, 30,330 homes were delivered in 2024. That is less than the previous year and far short of the Government's 40,000 election brag - a failure, by the way, that is set to continue, as the Central Bank says the Government will miss its housing targets for the next three years. The Taoiseach and his colleagues cynically misled the public on the key issue of housing during the general election. When this ploy was exposed last month, the Government's defence was that the claim of 40,000 homes in 2024 was not a promise but a forecast that ended up being wrong - in other words, an honest mistake. Now, however, we have the truth. The Government knew in advance of the general election that it had not a hope of hitting 40,000 new homes for 2024. Just days before the general election was called, then finance Minister and Fianna Fáil deputy leader, Jack Chambers, was handed an important report by the Department of Finance that laid out in black and white that 40,000 homes would not be delivered. Nobody could seriously believe that the Minister would have kept that information from the Government on the eve of an election - it was too important - so I assume he shared it with the Taoiseach. What I know is that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, did not tell the public. On the contrary, two days after receiving this report, with the general election under way, he made the claim that the Government was on course to deliver 40,000 homes. This untruth was repeated by the Taoiseach, by Simon Harris and by Darragh O'Brien again and again throughout the campaign. It is not lost on anyone that, last week, as the Minister, Deputy Chambers, was caught out for misleading the public at home, the Taoiseach was sitting in the Oval Office laughing about Ireland's housing crisis. The American President stated that the housing crisis was because Ireland was doing so well and that it was a good problem. The Taoiseach replied: "That's a pretty good answer, Mr. President", but does the Taoiseach think it is a pretty good answer for people locked out of home ownership, renters crucified with rip-off rents and young people unable to get a start in life choosing between staying at home with their parents or going to Australia? Does the Taoiseach think it is a good answer for mothers and fathers forced into homelessness and children being raised in bed and breakfasts and hotel rooms? The Taoiseach's sniggering interaction hurt a lot of people. He made light of their suffering. The Government misleads people on housing at home and then laughs at them while rubbing shoulders with the powerful abroad. Bhí a fhios ag an Rialtas nach raibh ann ach cur i gcéill agus é ag maíomh as 40,000 teach nua in 2024. Ach anois, tá an fhírinne nochtaithe. Does the Taoiseach recognise the hurt caused by his laughing with the American President about the Irish housing crisis? Will he now accept and admit that he knowingly misled the public with his claim the Government would deliver 40,000 homes in 2024?
Sentiment score: -0.04
The Taoiseach is spoofing. The Department of Finance analysed all the available data which the Taoiseach cited and more. The Department told the Taoiseach's colleague, the Minister, Jack Chambers, that 40,000 homes in 2024 was not happening. We have the documentation to reflect that fact. The Minister knew and the Government knew - I assume the Taoiseach knew - yet the Government spun the fiction again and again of 40,000 houses in 2024 to, as it were, take the bad look off things. Shame on you for doing that and for misleading people. It does not take courage to snigger at people. That is the action of an obsequious coward. It is a cowardly act to snigger at the suffering and hardship of people back home when you feel you are at a safe distance to do so.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I ask the Taoiseach to reflect on that and on the fact that his sniggering-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----caused real hurt. The Taoiseach should genuinely reflect on that fact. Perhaps he has not. I now ask him to do so and accept also that he misled people in the general election campaign.
Sentiment score: -0.02
Hear, hear.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Hear, hear.
Sentiment score: 0.00
You are.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Yes, if he will.
Sentiment score: 0.40
No.
Sentiment score: -0.30
No, you are spoofing.
Sentiment score: -0.30