Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen has said he is sorry if people were offended by a statement he made in the Dáil yesterday during a debate on the eviction ban.
The Laois-Offaly deputy said that extending the eviction ban would not necessarily solve the house crisis and compared it to "making sweets free for children".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said that he was not his intention to offend, he said, but to focus minds on the available solutions.
Yesterday Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Riordáin said on Twitter that the remark by Mr Cowen was met by "stunned faces" in the Dáil, while Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan described the comments as "shocking" and "an utter disgrace".
The phrase was an analogy, Mr Cowen added, and he said he could have used another one such as "papering over the cracks doesn't fix the walls long-term".
Mr Cowen also said he was working with councillors and local councils to ensure that real long-term solutions are put into effect.
The Government is providing record funding towards social housing and invested in many initiatives, he said.
He added that many of the Opposition would have people believe that extending the ban would wipe away existing notices to quit that have been issued in accordance with the law, but you cannot pass retrospective law.
Mr Cowen denied that he is removed from reality.
It is always a scandal when there are children and homelessness of those figures being mentioned in our country, he said, but it is not a scandal that this Government is spending twice as much as any other EU country on social housing.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the did not think that it was a good analogy and that he is sure Mr Cowen would agree that they "weren't the correct words to use".
However, he did say that the tenant-in-situ scheme was working and he asked the opposition to work with the scheme instead of knocking it.
"I totally agree with him on that. Roughly 300 houses are already in the process of being purchased by Dublin City Council alone," he said.
Additional reporting Eleanor Burnhill
