Sinn Fein has hit out at the Housing Minister for "deliberately withholding the costs of Part V social housing units from Oireachtas members".

Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD made the claim as Minister Eoghan Murphy for the second time refused to provide information on the costs of Part V units via Parliamentary Question to Deputy Ó Broin.

Deputy Ó Broin said: "As house and land prices continue to rise, developers are now looking for significant sums of money from Councils for their part five units. In recent months, we have seen a developers in Dalkey price Part V apartments at €516,400 per unit and in Cherrywood at prices ranging from €240,000 for a one bed unit to €440,000 for a three bed unit.

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"In response to these developments, I have asked the Minister for Housing to provide a table of all Part V units purchased by Councils in the past 12 months and to provide an average cost per unit in each Local Authority Area.

"Despite requesting this information twice via Parliamentary Question, on September 11th and October 17th, the Minister has refused to divulge it. In my view, he is deliberately withholding the cost of Part V social housing units from members of the Oireachtas.

"This information is important as it allows us to determine whether public money is being properly spent. The current cost of a Local Authority delivering social homes directly ranges from €175,271 for a one bed unit to €200,726 for a three bed. The average cost of Council led social housing across all house sizes in €189.000.

"If Local Authorities are being asked to pay more than twice these prices for Part V units, this raises important questions. In the current housing and homeless crisis, is it right for Councils to purchase a single unit from private developer when the same money could fund two and a half units in a Council led development? Do the calculations used by developers in determining the price of Part V units need to be revised?"

(CD/LM)