The Housing Minister has been slammed for failing to clarify the amount of units of accommodation that have been developed in Ireland this year.

Fianna Fail Deputy Barry Cowen said he found it "extraordinary" that Minister Eoghan Murphy could not provide straight answers on the volume of actual homes being built.

Deputy Cowen said: "There are still 100,000 people on social housing lists across the country and in addition over 5,000 adults and 3,100 children in emergency hotel accommodation. Everyone claims to share concern about these appalling statistics, but, despite the rhetoric, we still can't get clear answers on how many units of accommodation are being built in this country this year.

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"The Taoiseach has tried to dismiss people's concerns about the homelessness emergency by saying our figures are low compared to international standards. This is a clear attempt to normalise the problem in the country's mind and to provide a distraction to the substance of the issue.

"Neither I nor my party will accept the current situation as normal or acceptable. Instead we believe that more pressure should be put on the local authorities to show how they are spending the money that has been allocated to them to provide both social and affordable housing. This information is not available or transparent on an ongoing basis. We know for a fact that there are still vacant sites that are not being utilised across the country. This is not acceptable and the Minister appears to be unable to explain it.

"We need to end the Government spin and concentrate in a clear headed way on the actual delivery of social and affordable houses. Where there is not delivery and where local authorities are not performing or providing houses, despite the Government saying that money has been made available, we need to have a very straightforward discussion on why this is the case and who is responsible for that failure."

(CD/MH)