Michael Walsh, chair of property, made the comments after the firm’s Housing Convention, held in association with Property Industry Ireland, which attracted over 300 industry leaders to the Aviva, Dublin last week.

Finance minister Michael McGrath gave the keynote address at the conference, while Marian Finnegan, managing director of Sherry FitzGerald Residential & Advisory, outlined the current challenges and opportunities for the Irish residential market.

Mr McGrath said: “Significant progress has been made in housing over recent years and the issue remains the government’s number one priority.

“Under our ‘Housing for All’ plan the government is making record State investment in housing with €4.5 billion of State funding committed in 2023. Only through co-operation and collaboration between the State and private stakeholders can we continue to make progress.”

The convention also featured two panels of industry experts who discussed capital, funding, planning constraints and solutions and the role of the State and of public private partnership in housing delivery and availability.

The day concluded with a fireside chat with Dr Bill Nowlan, founder of Oracle Real Estate Strategies, and Pat Farrell, CEO of Irish Institutional Property (IIP), moderated by Mr Walsh.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Walsh said: “The viability of new home schemes and policy stability were the two most prominent concerns of attendees at our Housing Convention today.

“There were calls for housing to be removed from the political arena, and an all-party approach to be taken to the development and implementation of housing policy.

“Integral to viability is the issue of rising development costs. Delays in the planning system featured strongly in panel discussions, recognising the increased cost burden, ultimately passed to purchasers, in the nature of debt interest roll-up and construction cost inflation when planning decisions are delayed, appealed or judicially reviewed.

“There was broad acceptance that the State has become the most important actor in the housing market, but a realisation that there is potential for over-reliance on it, with some calls for measures to boost institutional and private investor and lender activity in the sector.”

Ivan Gaine, chair of PII, added: “While much has been done by government to support housing delivery, Ireland still does not provide enough homes to meet our demographic needs.

“The NPF review and proper targets by tenure is a critical undertaking which needs strong focus and, with tweaks, there could be significant delivery under Croi Cónaithe & STAR. Today’s discussion highlighted these issues and, importantly, some of the solutions.”