O’Flynn warns of ‘housing emergency becoming the new normal’
Ken O’Flynn TD, Chairman of Independent Ireland and Cork North Central representative, has warned that Ireland is “perilously close to normalising record homelessness” unless the Government moves from rhetoric to real delivery.
Official figures from the Department of Housing show 15,915 people — including 4,958 children — in emergency accommodation in June 2025, the highest level since records began.
“These numbers are the consequence of policy choices and delivery failures,” O’Flynn said. “If the State continues to treat homelessness as an accepted feature of Irish life, it will become a permanent one.”
The Central Statistics Office recorded 9,214 new homes completed in the second quarter of 2025 and apartment completions rising to 3,053. Yet homelessness is at an all-time high.
“This is the mismatch we’re not talking about — increased supply on paper, record homelessness in reality,” O’Flynn said. “We’re measuring success in planning approvals and press conferences, not in the only figure that counts: the number of people permanently leaving homelessness.”
He pointed to rent pressures as a key driver of the crisis. Data from the Residential Tenancies Board show average rents for new tenancies at €1,680 per month — €240 more than existing rents — widening the affordability gap and pushing more families to the brink.
Prevention, O’Flynn argued, is where the quickest wins are. “Threshold prevented over 950 households from entering homelessness in just three months this year. Scale that nationally and you change lives before the trauma begins,” he said.
Independent Ireland have called for a national housing emergency to be declared, allowing the State to cut through bureaucratic delays and deliver faster. O'Flynn wants targeted arrears supports, rapid mediation for tenants and landlords, and greater investment in prevention programmes. He also pointed to faster activation of vacant and derelict stock, support for affordable rents, and innovative build methods such as modular and prefab homes.
“The test is simple,” O’Flynn concluded. “If, month-on-month, the number in emergency accommodation isn’t falling, then the policy is failing. And if this Government can’t deliver that, it should step aside for those who can.”
