Sinn Féin is calling on the government to provide an additional €300 million in funding to develop social homes in Ireland.

The party made the call after it was revealed that in 2015 the amount spent on developing social housing was down 80% compared to figures in 2011.

Housing spokesperson Dessie Ellis has accused the government of "actively working against" the construction of social housing through local authorities.

Deputy Ellis said: "The government have supplied in 2015 just 11.3 million for council housing compared to 24.6 million in 2014 and 58.5 million in 2011, the year they took office.

-- Advertisement --

"Local Authorities are best placed to deliver social housing. They have land to use and the expertise to plan, design and construct housing where it's needed to deal with the housing crisis. They cannot do this by themselves due to restrictions on their borrowing. Councils need state support to provide housing. We knew the government wasn't doing enough to deliver housing, but these figures reveal just how damaging government policy has been.

"In the last number of years Dublin City Council and other large local authorities, where housing need is severe and homelessness has been rising, have been unable to deliver more than a handful of homes. According to the data available through the Department of Environment, just 20 homes were built by Local Authorities in the first 6 months of 2015, 19 of them in Dublin city. This is in the context of at least 130,000 applicants for social housing many of whom have been waiting years and over 5000 people homeless including 1500 children."

(CD)