Minister Jack Chambers buried department report debunking 40,000 homes claim before General Election – Pearse Doherty TD
13 March 2025
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty, has said that records released to him under Freedom Of Information prove that Minister Jack Chambers knew, days before the General Election, that the government would not deliver anywhere close to 40,000 homes.
The Donegal TD said the Minister must clarify why he continued to make what he knew were false statements during the course of the election.
Teachta Doherty said:
“The Minister has been caught out.
“Jack Chambers made a conscious decision to mislead the public in the election campaign on how many homes the government would deliver.
“He claimed they were on course to reach 40,000 when he had been told by his officials that they would deliver the same number as the previous year; or less.
“We now know that 30,330 homes were built in 2024, 7% down on the year before.
“The delivery of 40,000 homes last year was a key part of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s election campaign.
“These records completely debunk any claim this was an honest mistake on the part of the Minister.
“It was pure populism. Telling the public what they wanted to hear, knowing it wasn’t true.
“The internal record released to me under FOI from the Department of Finance shows the Minister was given a report from his dedicated Housing Unit, just days before the General Election, that advises him on all matters related to the government’s housing plan.
“The report made it clear 40,000 homes would not be delivered, and that they wouldn’t even get close to that figure.
“Two days later, with the election campaign underway, he made the claim that the government was on course to deliver 40,000 homes.
“This was repeated again and again by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs throughout the election campaign.
“It was an untruth parroted ad nauseam by Micheál Martin, Simon Harris and Darragh O’Brien throughout the campaign.
“Minister Jack Chambers now needs to come clean, and explain why he chose to double down on claims he knew were not to be true.”
In a report sent to the Minister on the 6th of November and noted:
“Overall Assessment
Growth in new dwelling completions at 6 per cent represented the first growth on an annual basis in any quarter this year. The figures to-date are broadly in line with recent revisions to completions forecasts from the Central Bank for 2024, which point to housing output similar to, or slightly lower, than last year.”
