Pace of building social housing in Offaly 'totally inadequate' - Cowen

Fianna Fáil TD for Offaly, Barry Cowen, has said the pace of building social housing in Co Offaly is "totally inadequate to meet the need."

Deputy Cowen said it was welcome that funding was eventually granted for 38 new homes in Raheen but that it shouldn’t have taken three years for it to happen.

He explained: “While we’ve come to learn the Minister for Housing will never miss a photoshoot opportunity, it is frustrating to see Fine Gael representatives lauding the allocation of funding for something which has been promised for over three years."

“For the people depending on social housing in Clara in this instance, they now face a further 18 months or more until the development has been completed – that’s over four years and I don’t think that’s anything to celebrate."

“Fine Gael’s inability to implement a meaningful housing policy is unfortunately all too obvious. There have been eight local authority houses built in Offaly since they came to power in 2011."

“Just this week we’ve seen just how little ambition this Government has. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Deep Energy Retrofit Scheme has run out of funding," he added.

"Only a few months ago the government launched a Climate Action plan with higher retrofitting targets and now we have confirmation from the SEAI that it has reached its funding limit for this year and that new applications cannot be considered."

“This Government they are happy to don the hard hats, pose for photos, and announce new projects but the substance is not there to follow through,” concluded Deputy Cowen.