Kilkenny councillor hits out at remarks made by Tánaiste Simon Harris
Cllr Maurice Shortall on Tánaiste’s remarks about local authority housing: “In Kilkenny, the facts tell a very different story.”
Independent Kilkenny councillor Maurice Shortall has stated that recent comments made by Tánaiste Simon Harris “suggesting that local authorities are somehow not doing enough on housing are deeply disappointing and amount to an attempt to shift responsibility away from his own Government.”
Speaking recently on The Journal’s The Candidate podcast, Harris commented on local authorities, stating: “I’m meeting too many local authorities, who think they’ve done enough. ‘Ah sure we have a housing emergency, but we’ve done enough here’. Quite frankly, no one’s done enough. If it’s an emergency, it’s an emergency.”
Cllr Shortall told Kilkenny Live that he was taken aback by the nature of the comments, especially given that they implicate councillors locally and nationally from Mr Harris’ own party.
“When he says he is meeting councils that think they have ‘done enough’ on housing, he is effectively throwing his own Fine Gael councillors and local authority members under the bus,” he said.
Government cannot take credit when housing numbers improve and then point the finger at local authorities when challenges remain.
“After all, Fine Gael representatives sit around council chambers across the country and have supported the very housing policies being implemented locally.
“In Kilkenny, the facts tell a very different story. Kilkenny County Council's Housing Section completed its 2025 housing delivery programme, delivering 137 social homes through direct build projects across the county, 35 affordable homes, 12 cost rental and 364 people were in receipt of HAP.
“These homes did not appear by accident. They were delivered through the hard work of local authority staff, elected members, approved housing bodies and local communities working together.”
Cllr Shortall stated that “to suggest that councils are the primary obstacle to housing delivery ignores the reality on the ground and distracts from the Government's responsibility to ensure adequate funding, infrastructure, serviced land and a planning system capable of meeting demand.”
He remarked that “Government cannot take credit when housing numbers improve and then point the finger at local authorities when challenges remain.”
“Housing delivery is a shared responsibility, and leadership means working with councils, not publicly criticising them,” he added.
“If Simon Harris is serious about accelerating housing delivery, he should focus on supporting local authorities that are already delivering homes, including Kilkenny County Council, rather than seeking political cover by blaming the very people implementing Government housing policy on the ground.”