9 January 2018
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Solidarity TD for Cork North Central Mick Barry this morning questioned whether the Government are “fiddling the figures” on the number of new houses built in the country last year.
The Government claim that 17,309 new houses were built in the country in the first 11 months of last year.
However, yesterday Goodbody Stockbrokers claimed that the correct figure for the period was 8,659.
Goodbody base their figure on new building energy ratings while the Department of Housing base theirs on electricity connections.
Deputy Barry said this morning: “New electricity connections can be triggered by vacant units coming back on stream and by work to existing buildings. I don’t often find myself in agreement with stockbrokers but the Goodbody statistics seem to me more reliable and indicate that the Government could be fiddling the figures and claiming the number of new house builds to be double what they actually are.”
Pointing out that experts claim 35,000 new builds are needed per annum, Deputy Barry argued that the market has failed to deliver and that now is the time for a massive programme of local authority housebuilding to provide social and affordable homes.
