Thousands of people marched on Ireland’s parliament on Wednesday in the latest angry protest over a housing shortage that has sparked sharp increases in rental costs and homelessness.
Housing has become the number one political issue ahead of a possible election in the coming months and inside the building Prime Minister Leo Varadkar defended his government’s record, pointing to nearly 20,000 new homes expected to be built this year.
“There are limiting factors. There’s only so much concrete, only so many service sites, only so many construction workers. We’re ramping up things as quickly as we can,” he said.
While Ireland was left with a surplus of houses after a property crash in 2008, it has come nowhere near providing the number needed to keep up with a rapid economic recovery, with rents in Dublin almost 20 percent above their pre-crisis peak.
While rising, supply is still short of the 35,000 new builds analysts say are needed annually…