Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Taoiseach of “spoofing” and claimed his “sniggering” in the White House about the housing crisis was the action of an “obsequious coward”.
During sharp exchanges in the Dáil, Michéal Martin in turn claimed she was “pathetic” and told her to “get off the stage” and that “nobody was sniggering”.
He accused her of ignoring his comments in the Oval Office when he said that “the number-one issue in Ireland is housing. We’ve got to build them. We’ve got to build more houses”.
Housing dominated questions on Wednesday, with Labour leader Ivana Bacik accusing the Government of engaging in “propaganda” on housing figures.
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Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan accused the Government of “spin, bluster, deflection”. The Coalition has engaged in a “Comical Ali routine” by pretending the previous government’s election claim that 40,000 houses would be built last year was “somehow an honest mistake”.
During Leaders’ Questions, Ms McDonald referred to Mr Martin’s joint press conference with US president Donald Trump, who said the housing crisis is a good problem caused by Ireland doing so well.
“You were sitting in the Oval Office laughing about Ireland’s housing crisis,” Ms McDonald said. “You said: ‘That’s a pretty good answer Mr President’,” she said.
She asked if this was a “pretty good answer” for people locked out of home ownership or “crucified with rip-off rents”. She asked Mr Martin: “Do you recognise the hurt [caused] by your laughing with the American president about the Irish housing crisis?”
“Your sniggering interaction hurt a lot of people. Taoiseach, you made light of their suffering. So Government misleads people on housing at home and then laughs at them while rubbing shoulders with the powerful abroad.”
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Mr Martin retorted that nobody was “sniggering” and that nobody was going to “buy in to your propaganda, your feigned outrage”. He said Ms McDonald did not have “the courage or the guts” to go to Washington.
He highlighted his comments in the Oval Office that housing was the number-one issue in Ireland but said she “chose to ignore that”.
Ms McDonald also challenged him about the Government’s claim 40,000 houses would be built in 2024 when the actual figure ended up being 30,330. She claimed the government “cynically misled the public on the key issue of housing during the general election”.
Ms McDonald referred to a report issued by the Department of Finance to then minister for finance Jack Chambers days before the election that the 40,000 target would not be met. She said Mr Chambers, currently Minister for Public Expenditure, was “caught out for misleading the public” because he did not disclose the report from his own department.
She asked if Mr Chambers had shared the report with Government colleagues. Ms McDonald said it would be unbelievable if he had not.
Labour’s Ms Bacik said the Government was moving “at a snail’s pace on housing” and claims of achieving 40,000 homes last year were Government propaganda. Ms Bacik said the financing was not in place and the Central Bank on Wednesday said housing numbers would be down over the next three years.
Ms Bacik said the Government rejected any initiative the Opposition suggested.
When Mr O’Callaghan asked if the Government was going to meet the 2025 target of 41,000 homes, the Taoiseach said the Opposition would claim Government failure no matter what target was set.
Mr Martin acknowledged there had been a significant reduction in the number of planning permissions, and private investors and developers had to be encouraged. He confirmed a target of 41,000 this year but said this was “going to be very challenging”.
