Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said building sites will not be closed down again as Covid-19 infection rates soar.
Mr O’Brien told today’s Irish Independent sites “can’t be closed again” as part of any new restrictions while the housing crisis deepens.
He revealed 800 houses a week were lost during four months of the building sector shutdown.
Mr O’Brien also said the Government was bringing in new legislation to clamp down on rogue builders so that scandals such as homes crumbling due to low-grade mica or pyrite blocks were not repeated.
He has further promised that despite all housing targets being missed this year due to the shutdown, the sector will ramp up its delivery of homes next year.
Mr O’Brien said that every week building sites had been closed this year, around 800 houses were lost.
The Government failed to meet every single housing target, with progress blamed on construction sites reopening only on April 12.
“Construction will not be closed again, and it can’t be. We lost 800 houses a week for every week of shutdown,” Mr O’Brien said.
Read the full report on www.independent.ie
