Fianna Fáil housing spokesman Darragh O'Brien has reignited a bitter row with the Taoiseach and Housing Minister, accusing them of prioritising "their wealthy friends" with housing policies.

Mr O'Brien said that Leo Varadkar and Eoghan Murphy live in a "parallel, deluded universe" after Mr Varadkar said Fianna Fáil should be "embarrassed" to talk about its "rubbish" housing policies.

"All he is doing now is throwing charges at everyone else to divert from the fact they have failed miserably. We have the highest homelessness ever, highest rent ever, lowest home-ownership rate ever, and we've hundreds of people living on the streets across the country. This is the parallel deluded universe that Eoghan Murphy and Leo Varadkar are living in," Mr O'Brien told the Irish Independent.

Mr O'Brien caused controversy in 2018 when he said Mr Varadkar and Mr Murphy were failing to resolve the housing crisis because their "elitist" and "cosseted" backgrounds prevent them from sympathising with ordinary people.

Yesterday, the Fianna Fáil TD claimed the pair prioritised investor and cuckoo funds through "targeted, strategic" decisions to push people into renting and not owning their home.

"It's their wealthy friends they have prioritised through changing planning laws to have a situation where it's far more advantageous to have investor funds operating in this country," he said.

Mr Murphy's spokesman said: "Our housing plan will deliver 20,000 new build homes this year. Fianna Fáil's plan would deliver zero."

He said every time Fianna Fáil is challenged "they resort to playground name-calling".

"The question hasn't changed in over two years - where is their housing policy?" he added.

Mr Varadkar's spokesman pointed to the Help to Buy Scheme, "the biggest social house-building programme in decades", and more rights for renters.

He claimed Fianna Fáil's housing policies are "made up on the hoof".

Irish Independent