Taoiseach Micheál Martin has defended his record on housing, insisting that “progress has been made”. 

Last year, a report by stockbroker Davy calculated there is a housing shortfall in Ireland of some 230,000 homes. 

However, there were only 36,284 new properties built in 2025. 

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast from the Fianna Fáil think in, the party's President said that house building has increased significantly in recent years. 

“First of all, we've the fastest home building in Europe and we're building at a rate and at a pace that's double the European average way ahead,” Mr Martin said. 

“We have a lot more to do; last year, we built 9,000 plus social houses, for example. 

“We have the highest direct spend in Europe on housing.

“21,000 mortgages were drawn down in the first half of 2025 - that's up 5% - and employment and residential construction sector is up 14%.”

We are seeing real momentum in the delivery of new homes.

Over 16,600 houses and apartments were built in the first six months of the year – the highest number on record for this period.

It is very encouraging progress, but we are determined to keep driving this forward. pic.twitter.com/mOc44hfg29

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) July 30, 2026

In the Programme for Government published in early 2025, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael vowed to build 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030. 

While 36,284 new homes were built last year, EY has forecast that housing completions will rise to 40,000 this year, 43,000 in 2027 and 47,000 in 2028. 

“The key issue for us now is to maintain the momentum that is undoubtedly out there,” Mr Martin said. 

“Many people in the industry are acknowledging that and affirming that the measures we've taken over the last 12 months, in addition to the increases, are bearing fruit.

“When I came into office in 2020, there was 20,000 houses being built.”

Two workers at the building of a new house. Picture by: Cum Okolo / Alamy Stock Photo.

In the medium-term, the Government hopes to see 50,000 new homes built every year, a target that the Taoiseach said had been more difficult because of global events outside of Ireland’s control. 

“We had to stop housing twice during lockdowns, if you recall,” he explained. 

“We've had a war in Ukraine, which created an energy crisis, we now have a war in the Middle East, which has exacerbated prices again in terms of construction supplies and so on.

“That said, the level of Government intervention, the one distinctive thing that's happened since 2020 has been the scale of government intervention in housing. 

“Nearly 80% of all houses that now have a Government support behind them - that's not sustainable into the long-term.

“We want to transition into a stronger private sector house building because that would make it more sustainable over the next decade.” 

Overall, Mr Martin insisted that “progress has been made”, but acknowledged that prices remain “high”. 

“Everything we've been doing from a policy perspective has been about getting more supply, getting more homes built,” he said. 

Main image: An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has turned the sod on the Railyard Apartments in the Docklands area of Cork city. Picture by: Darragh Kane.