Martina Devlin: Hot air will not deliver housing, but an all-hands-on-deck approach just might
Minister James Browne needs to push through some hard-hitting decisions
An over-abundance of what the Italians call 'aria fritta' – exaggerated talk (literally, fried air) – about solving the housing crisis has been circulated by senior politicians. Their reliance on hot air went into overdrive during Darragh O'Brien's tenure as housing minister, and his successor James Browne is still wading through its foggy aftermath.
Today, he admitted the Coalition will miss its own housing targets. It's a woeful acknowledgement, precipitated not by transparency on the Government's part, but a statement from the Central Bank that the Government's forecast of 41,000 units built this year won't be met. Instead, 32,500 is all that can be expected.
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