Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rejected suggestions that housing commencement figures are going in the wrong direction, insisting a fall-off was always expected after a bumper 2024.
Mr Martin said the lower figures for the first half of 2025 follow the end of a waiver on levies for developers at the end of last year.
The suspension of levies for new residential developments was introduced in 2023 to stimulate housing construction. It led to a sharp increase in the level of housing commencements.
From 2025, developers once again became liable to pay development contributions to local authorities.
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Last month only 1,356 commencement notices were lodged, the lowest monthly total recorded since 2020. Department of Housing figures indicate the total number of housing commencements this year to date was 6,325 compared with 34,581 by June of last year.
Speaking during a visit to Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, on Friday, Mr Martin said the fall-off in housing commencement from January to June of this year was anticipated given what he termed an “extraordinary” number of commencements in 2024 and 2023.
“I don’t think [saying that housing commencement figures are going in the wrong direction] is fair. You have to look at the context. Last year was a record year of 33,000 [housing commencements] because of the waiving of the development levies.”
He said the year before this was 15,000. He said it was “important” that building completions were up in the first three months of this year.
Mr Martin stressed the Government had taken significant measures that would lay “foundational steps” for growth, and there were “thousands and thousands of houses now in the pipeline”.
“We do need to unblock some of those and that is why the National Development Plan is important in enabling the unblocking of some projects that are already about to happen or in the pipeline itself,” he said.
While maintaining public-sector investment, the Government is also focused on attracting further private-sector investment into the construction industry, which he said was “critical”.
“What will be key next year and in the years ahead will be getting more private-sector construction – particularly in apartments – we need to really increase the level of apartment building,” he said.
Mr Martin added that he is concerned about how Ireland will increase housing delivery.
“I am concerned about how we get from 33,000 to 50,000. That is my focus.”
“We have a lot of commencements. We have a lot of planning permissions granted. The issue is how we turn those into buildings.”
