Cork property developer Michael O’Flynn has said the growing deficit of homes is yet to be addressed by the Government, with the current problem in housing “spiralling out of control.”

Speaking on the Irish Examiner’s ieBusiness Podcast, available every Monday, the CEO and chairman of the O’Flynn Group said he did not feel enough was being done to solve growing deficits in housing, adding that the Government was “going nowhere”.

This month, the Central Bank slashed housing completion estimates for 2026 and 2027. Completions are forecast to stand at 32,500 for this year, 36,000 in 2026, and 40,000 in 2027.

In its last economic bulletin in June, the Central Bank had projected 37,500 for 2026 and 41,500 for 2027.

The Government is targeting 300,000 new homes by 2030, meaning around 50,000 houses must be built each year, which experts say is now increasingly out of reach.

Mr O’Flynn, who was a member of the Government’s Housing Commission, which published a 256-page report last year highlighting the systemic failings in the housing market, said housing deliveries need to be double what they currently are.

The report, published in May 2024, suggested an underlying housing deficit in Ireland of up to 256,000 homes. 

However, Mr O’Flynn said the realistic deficit is even higher. He told the Irish Examiner: 

It was probably 300,000 before the ink dried on the report. That deficit is not being addressed at all, in my opinion. 

He added that only 50% of Government targets were being delivered.

“We should be at 60,000 units plus, but we’re down at the 30,000s, plus or minus,” Mr O’Flynn said. “We have a problem that is spiralling out of control. 

“Unfortunately, we have spent a number of years facing up to these targets.

“We know we are not going to meet them, and thus need an emergency approach.”

In a wide-ranging podcast interview, Mr O’Flynn also called out the Government’s Housing Activation Office, a new unit within the Department of Housing launched in April this year, which seeks to identify barriers and actions required to speed up the delivery of housing.

Recounting the report, the developer noted: “One of our main recommendations was a housing delivery oversight executive. It was hard debated, it was hard fought for. 

“Then the Government decided to launch the Housing Activation Office. If we’re activating something, that means it’s already there. We deliberately called it a housing delivery oversight executive because it is not there. 

“There is nothing to activate.

“Do we even need an office within an office? I would say no. 

“It was never the intention of the Housing Commission to put it in.”