Housing

Analysis: Can stats outweigh lived experience in the housing crisis optics war?

Government can now point to positive trends in housebuilding, however, it’s unclear if data alone will curry public favour for the coalition

Taoiseach Simon Harris, Eamon Ryan and Darragh O’ Brien at the Housing for All press conference in Government Buildings on Wednesday. Picture: Government Information Service

The government is fighting two battles on housing in a bid to get re-elected next year.

One is going well. The other, not so much.

Since it took office, the current coalition has been poor at spelling out just how effective its policies have been in tackling the housing crisis.

Fine Gael, in truth, has struggled with this for its 13 years in office - possibly because it didn’t have the data to prove it.