A new report has forecasted average house prices in Ireland to increase by at least 10% in 2019.

The latest Friends First Economic Outlook report states that a shortage of labour in the construction sector will result in housing needs not being met, posing a "serious national challenge" to Ireland's economic outlook.

Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin TD, said the report's predicted rise in house prices is "unsustainable", while the government is "indifferent to the plight of those struggling to afford a home".

"People are taking a week off work and queuing in the rain for a chance to buy a home in the Taoiseach’s own constituency," he said.

"This is not how a functioning housing market behaves. People are desperate.

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"Despite programme for government commitments to roll out an affordable scheme nothing yet has materialised. The Rebuilding Ireland loan scheme does nothing to make the price of houses more affordable and with a limit of €320,000 most homes in Dublin where the problem is most acute are too expensive.

"I find it astonishing that the government is not listening to warnings from industry on this issue, never mind from Sinn Féin and NGOs working in the sector."

Continuing, Deputy Ó Broin called for Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to roll out an 'affordable' housing scheme as an "absolute priority" for the upcoming Dáil term.

"He has been in the job long enough to know what needs to be done," he said.

"Sinn Féin is happy to meet with him and his officials to explore how our costed Budget 2018 proposals can be progressed. We have outlined how affordable homes can be delivered within the fiscal space on state land.

"We allocated €428m for 2018 to kickstart an affordable housing programme that would deliver 4,500 genuinely affordable homes to rent and to purchase. This government will deliver zero affordable homes in 2018.

"Any further unsustainable rise in house prices is not a symptom of a booming economy. It just highlights how unstable the housing market is."

(LM/MH)