There is no short term solution to the housing crisis, and we will not see the needed level of houses built until 2019 at the earliest.

That is according to housing organisation Respond who are calling for there to be a dedicated cabinet minister for housing in the next government.

They say developers are not being attracted back to the market because houses are too expensive to build.

CEO of Respond Ned Brennan believes there is also a drain of talent in the construction sector.

“There isn’t adequate profit in it at the moment, to entice builders back into the building game, and also there is a lack of talent.

“During the economic crisis, a lot of the trades people emigrated to other countries so there is a deficiency in the necessary skills to build at the moment.”