Last week on Tuesday (Feb. 24th, 2026), JCFJ in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office-Ireland held an event entitled “Ireland’s Way Forward?: the New EU Affordable Housing Plan” on—what I am sure you are already able to guess—the new Affordable Housing Plan (AHP) outlined by the European Union Commission for Affordable Housing. The point of the Plan is to create an approach for each EU member state, individually and as a collective, to take in tackling affordability. Ireland is not the only European country struggling with unaffordability, and while our continental friends might struggle in different ways to us regarding housing, there are shared problems across the Union. This Plan aims at addressing these shared issues and leading us forward. This blog will spare you the long, drawn-out details and summary (stay tuned in the coming weeks for a report on this, though!), but the main targets for the AHP are: 1) Boosting supply, 2) Mobilising investment, 3) Enabling immediate support while driving reforms, and 4) Supporting the most affected.
The purpose of our event was to bring together different stakeholders into the same room to work out not only the challenges we have in affordable housing, but also to imagine what our housing system could look like under the direction of the EU’s Plan. We were joined by politicians and civil servants, researchers both in the NGO and academic sectors, Faith Leaders, and industry people, in order to learn from each other and with each other on how to best approach our current affordability crisis.
Our keynote speaker was Mr. Eamon Ryan, the Chair of the Housing Advisory Board for the EU Commission on Affordable Housing, and former leader of Ireland’s Green Party, Minister for Transportation, and Minister for the Environment. The role of the Board was to collate practical solutions and steps the EU could take in working towards solutions that have a proven track record of decreasing unaffordability. As Mr. Ryan noted in his speech, they brought 75 recommendations to the Commission, almost all of which were considered and fed into the final Plan. He explained the recommendations, some of which included MMCs (modern methods of construction), re-evaluating the current planning and tax structures, social housing, renovation and retrofitting, but also the need to be actively working towards climate goals throughout each approach.
Responding to Mr. Ryan was Mr. Paul Tierney, CEO of MMC Ireland and Dr. Marie Hyland, Research Officer at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (also known as Eurofound). Mr. Tierny spoke to the efforts MMC Ireland have been making in broadening the use of MMCs and the push in attracting people to become skilled or re-skilled in MMCs, complementing Mr. Ryan’s speech well by emphasising the sustainability MMCs provide while also driving costs down. Dr. Hyland focused on the struggles of young people in housing, and how they are increasingly being locked out of both private renting and homeownership, resulting in higher levels of adults remaining at home or emigrating to seek better opportunities.
To wrap the session up, our Housing Policy Advocate, Dr. Alexia O’Brien, spoke to where Ireland is currently sitting policy-wise, mentioning the strengths we have going into this new Plan while also discussing the challenges we may face. She mainly focused on Ireland’s strength regarding the adoption of MMCs as well as the concerted effort the government has been placing in increasing social housing. Where she identified potential weakness’ is the current balance of Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) and the current taxation system for private developers. In both instances, she explained how the state has an over reliance on private investment and therefore are weary to bring in new systems that would regulate investors more and increase the benefits given to the state.
The event was moderated by Dr. Daithi Downey, the Head of European Programme Support and International Relations for Dublin City Council. Dr. Downey has been involved in housing research for many years, previously as a Policy Analyst with the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), the Head of Housing Research and Strategy with Dublin City Council and their Dublin Housing Observatory, and as the Chief Officer for the Dublin City Council Local Community Development Committee (LCDC).
The event was highly praised for its ability to draw together a wide array of housing and housing-adjacent stakeholders, creating and environment for collaboration and continued networking between different sectors. It is envisioned and hope that this is the first of many discussions regarding housing affordability and the ability for the Affordable Housing Plan to address these crucial issues in both Ireland and across the EU. With the EU Presidency being hosted in Ireland in July of this year, Ireland has the chance to be a leading voice if we wholly embrace the strategy.
