Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said giving young people hope that they can afford to buy or rent a home is the “defining challenge of our time”, while acknowledging that housing costs remain too high for many people in Ireland.
Speaking at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in Dublin, Mr Martin defended the Government’s record on housing delivery but said further action was needed to increase supply, improve affordability and expand social housing. The conference marked the centenary of Fianna Fáil’s founding and came at a time when housing remains one of the most politically sensitive issues facing the coalition Government.
Mr Martin told delegates that there was only “one serious way” to address the housing challenge: building more homes “of every type and in every part of the country”. He said the State needed steady and sustained action that permanently expands capacity to build homes, while giving priority to people seeking their first home.
Earlier, speaking to reporters at the Ard Fheis, the Taoiseach said housing costs were “still too high for many” and accepted that the Government’s progress had not been sufficient. He said around 177,000 new housing units had been developed since Fianna Fáil returned to office in 2020, but added: “We have made a difference but it is not enough; we need to do more than that.”
The Taoiseach’s remarks reflect the Government’s central housing argument: that supply is increasing, but not yet at a level that has eased the pressure felt by renters, first-time buyers and families seeking secure accommodation. Mr Martin said the country had experienced a “massively increased population”, adding that population growth and migration had created additional pressures on the housing system.
In his keynote speech, Mr Martin said 36,000 new homes were built last year, but that this was “not enough”. He said the Government would implement planning reforms so that decisions are “fair but also faster”, and would deliver what he described as the largest ever programme of investment in critical services, including water, sewerage, power and roads needed to support new homes.
The latest official housing data show strong growth in completions. The Department of Housing said there were 7,856 new dwelling completions in the first quarter of 2026, up 32.9 percent on the same period in 2025 and the highest first-quarter figure since the CSO series began in 2011. The total included 2,355 apartments, 4,082 scheme dwellings and 1,419 single dwellings.
However, higher construction output has not yet resolved the affordability problem. The latest RTB and ESRI Rent Index showed the national standardised average rent for new tenancies at €1,776 per month in the third quarter of 2025, up 5.4 percent year-on-year. Existing tenancies had an average standardised rent of €1,494 per month, up 4.6 percent annually.
Homelessness also remains at record levels. The Department of Housing’s March 2026 homelessness report recorded 17,517 people in emergency accommodation, including 5,571 children and 2,659 families. The figures underline the continuing gap between increased housing delivery and the scale of need across the system.
Mr Martin said the Government had “significantly increased” social housing compared with four years ago and was now at around 9,000 new-build social homes. He said the aim was to reach about 10,000 newly built social houses per year, which he said would help structurally with homelessness.
The Taoiseach also said the percentage of first-time buyers was “way up” compared with four or five years ago. His message to the Ard Fheis was that Fianna Fáil would continue to support people seeking their first home at an affordable price, while pushing forward a “new era” in social housing.
The political difficulty for Government is that several indicators are moving in different directions. New completions are rising and the first quarter of 2026 showed strong momentum. But rents remain high, house prices continue to put pressure on buyers, and homelessness remains severe. This means the housing debate is likely to remain focused not only on how many homes are being built, but also on whether they are affordable, available in the right locations, and delivered quickly enough.
The Ard Fheis speech also connected housing to wider economic and infrastructure policy. Mr Martin said economic and social progress had to go hand in hand. He argued that the State must continue to support enterprise, trade and investment because economic growth provides the revenue needed for pensions and public services.
He also said Ireland needed a “new national effort” to secure its ability to trade with the world, warning that disruption through tariffs and closed borders would pose a direct threat to Irish jobs and businesses. The Taoiseach said Ireland must build its presence and political engagement with more countries and support fair trade deals where they offer clear opportunities.
Energy costs also formed part of the speech. Mr Martin said families had felt the effect of rising energy and fuel prices and that Government needed to support those under most pressure. He said Ireland had to reduce its dependence on imported gas and oil, arguing that the move to clean and sustainable energy was not only an environmental necessity but also important for dealing with high and volatile prices.
The Taoiseach’s remarks come as Fianna Fáil seeks to define its role in Government ahead of future electoral contests. He rejected the idea that the party’s greatest successes were in the past and said the Ard Fheis would focus on the future. He also acknowledged the more fragmented political environment in Ireland and across Europe, noting that coalition governments are now common across the continent.
For the Government, the housing challenge is both practical and political. On the practical side, the State must increase supply, expand infrastructure, speed up planning and deliver more social and affordable homes. On the political side, it must show that increased output is improving the lived experience of people trying to rent, buy or move out of emergency accommodation.
Mr Martin’s language at the Ard Fheis was therefore both defensive and concessionary. He pointed to higher housing delivery since 2020 and strong recent completion figures. But he also accepted that housing costs remain too high and that building 36,000 homes last year was not enough.
The next test will be whether the Government can turn rising completions into measurable affordability gains. For young people, renters, first-time buyers and families in emergency accommodation, the central question is not whether the housing system is producing more units than before. It is whether secure and affordable homes become easier to access.
That is the challenge Mr Martin has now described as defining for his party, his Government and the country.
