Harris guarantees to beat housing target with 40,000 built by end of the year

Simon Harris is set to guarantee that the state will exceed its housing targets with “almost 40,000 homes built” by the end of 2024.
The taoiseach will also outline how preparatory work is underway for the 250,000 homes that will be needed over the next five years.
He will also present his proposal for a department of infrastructure that will help “deliver plans to share the neighbourhoods, towns and villages we live and work in”.
Harris is scheduled to speak at Béal na Bláth in Cork on Sunday to mark the 102nd anniversary of the death of Michael Collins, the Irish ­revolutionary.
In his speech, at 3pm at the Michael Collins memorial in ­Glannarouge West townland, the taoiseach will link the “major ­challenges” of “migration, child poverty and climate” with the housing crisis.
In his ard fheis speech in April, Harris promised that 250,000 homes would be built in the next five years.
Harris will tell his audience: “As a father of young children, I want to solve this national malaise now, before it becomes their ­problem and that of the generation after them.
“My vision is to set Ireland on a path free from the cycles of boom and bust, where crises are a thing of the past.
“This year we will exceed our housing targets with almost 40,000 homes built. This includes the biggest social housing build since 1975.
“But I know our greatest ­challenge remains delivery at pace. Over the next five years we must build 250,000 homes for our people.
“We will build 250,000 homes for our people. The work is already underway. Each local authority has been asked to ­undertake the preparatory work on zoning land for 50,000 new homes each year.”
Harris will say that it is ­necessary to “think big and invest in infrastructure, such as water and waste, with the same sort of entrepreneurial zeal that the first government applied to the Shannon scheme for electrification almost 100 years ago.”
The proceeds from the state’s sale of its shares in AIB will be directed towards the development of housing as a way of “developing generational solidarity”, according to Harris.
“The generation most affected by the mismanagement of banks deserves to benefit from our proper management.
“So I think it’s only fair we explore using the proceeds from the sale of bank shares to help fund the construction of new homes.”