Fianna Fáil TD says party backbenchers frustrated at the slow delivery of housing

Vivienne Clarke

Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne has said that the party’s backbenchers are frustrated at the slow pace of delivery on issues such as housing.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin should be having meetings every Monday morning with organisations like Uisce Eireann, the ESB and approved housing bodies to keep pressure on them about the delivery of services necessary for more homes to be built, he told Newstalk Breakfast.

“Every Monday morning all the key players around housing should be around the table”.

Mr Byrne also said he thought it would be unlikely that Mr Martin would lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.

That was an issue for the Taoiseach and the party, he said, but the slow pace of delivery on housing was an issue of “far greater urgency.”

“There is some progress, but it's not happening quickly enough.”

A lot of concerns among the members of the party were not being addressed, he added.

“That's where our frustration is. Because I suppose there was a sense we weren't listened to during the presidential election and we trusted the Taoiseach. And maybe a lot of that is on us as members of the parliamentary party. Maybe we should have asked more questions but the real issue here now is about us as politicians taking control of these issues and starting to make a lot more progress.”

The presidential campaign had been disastrous for the party, he said. There would now be a review and following that a discussion around how candidates would be selected in the future.

The bigger challenge was “the frustration of the middle ground within the party. Around that sense of disconnect between the leadership and a lot of the backbenches, and I think the real challenge is the frustration that we're feeling around the slow pace of delivery on issues like housing and infrastructure and disability services.

“What's happened is in many ways, unfortunately, we've seen too many decisions being left to un-elected advisors, to state agencies, to civil servants. And in many cases, they either won't take the decision or lack the necessary ambition and urgency that we want to see in terms of those decisions being taken. So this is the message we're saying to the leader.

“Among the back benches there is this frustration that we feel that a lot of our concerns are not being listened to. I mean, on the housing issue, because it's very personal, it's because people I know, friends of mine, extended family members, you done everything right, who worked hard, who got a good job. And yet, they're finding it difficult to be able to afford a home.

"And that's why for all of us, it's very personal that we need to have an urgency around this kind of urgency we saw during Covid. And we know that Micheál Martin can provide that leadership.”

Mr Byrne said he was not one of the people who had signed a no confidence motion in the Taoiseach. He welcomed the fact that Mr Martin was now engaging and meeting with backbenchers to address their concerns.

“I'm going to be meeting with him later on today. He's an experienced politician so he should be able to read the room.

"I think what is critical though now is having looked at what happened during the presidential election, which is a you know a symptom of a you know a bigger disconnect, I expect the Taoiseach to turn around and say right, we're taking back control of a lot of these issues and I think in those circumstances if he does that he will win back the support of backbenches in the party but it's critical that it's done with a sense of urgency because we can't, on stuff like housing and infrastructure and disability services, we can continue to allow, you know, excuses.”