Fianna Fáil is calling for a new Housing Authority to take the lead in delivering social and 'affordable' homes right across Ireland.

Spokesperson on Housing Barry Cowen TD also challenged the housing figures used by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy after responding to the Minister's publication of new data on social housing.

He said: "The Minister's own figures don’t add up. In a PQ reply to me in October the Minister stated that the target for social housing new builds in 2017 was 3,200. The statement has revised that figure downwards to 2,434, meaning the Government is now aiming to deliver 800 fewer homes than originally planned.

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"However, despite moving the goalpost, Minister Murphy has still missed his reduced target. It's notable that he is using inflated construction figures based on dubious ESB connections of 2,245 new units. It is also suspicious that the total annual output tripled in the last three months of 2017 from 773 to 2,245.

"The Minister continues to use ESB connections as the basis for his housing output. This is despite the fact that this method of calculation has been widely discredited by industry experts.

"There is a huge gap between BER registrations and stamp duty figures for new builds. These figures show that 9,000 new homes were delivered which contrasts significantly to the 19,000 figure that the Minister is claiming to have delivered."

(CD/MH)