Solving housing crisis ‘not about the money’, says Coveney

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said solving the housing crisis is “not about the money” and that the Government was open to new ideas in order to accelerate delivery of new homes.

“It’s not actually about the money,” Mr Coveney said at the Fine Gael think-in in Kilkenny this afternoon.

“This Government will commit more and more and more money to housing to try to respond to people’s understandable frustrations and anxiety in this area. But the real issue is about capacity – how can we build faster quality homes in the right places?”

Answering questions from journalists, Mr Coveney agreed that the Government would consider “a fresh look and new ideas” on housing.

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If there are better ways of delivering housing, “then I think there’ll be a very pragmatic conversation between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail and the Green party about delivering that,” he said.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said she will bring forward proposals shortly “before the Budget” on how to fund pensions in the future. She said all parties in Government were agreed that the pension age should stay at 66, but that paying for this could involve increases in PRSI.

Ms Humphreys declined to be drawn on details of the social welfare package that she is seeking in the Budget, but said that she would prioritise the elderly, those living on their own, carers, people with disabilities and also an expansion of the free school meals programme.

The Fine Gael ministers declined to say whether Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe should stay in his position after the December reshuffle in order to retain the position of head of the Eurogroup, the influential group of European finance ministers.

“He is one of the most respected figures across the European Union in fiscal and financial issues. He has done Ireland and the EU an extraordinary service. But this is a matter for the three leaders to decide,” Mr Coveney said.

“But I don’t think people should interpret that just because we say Paschal is doing a great job that we are somehow trying to lean on our partners in government to change understandings that may have been there,” he added. “Whatever happens in December is between the leaders and the rest of us haven’t been privy to those conversations.”

Under the agreement between the three Coalition parties, the office of Taoiseach will move from Fianna Fáil to Fine Gael on December 15th. The leaders have also agreed that the roles of Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure would also switch. But this puts Mr Donohoe’s role as chair of the Eurogroup in doubt, though there is some precedent for a non-finance minister holding the post.

The Fine Gael ministers were reluctant to be drawn on the end of year reshuffle, though Mr Coveney said he would like to remain as Minister for Foreign Affairs, describing it as a “dream job”.