Up to 7,000 homes won't be built this year because of the extended shutdown of the construction sector, according to the Housing Minister.
The industry now faces an eight-week closure, as non-essential sites will remain shut until March 5th.
About 80,000 construction staff will be out of work until then.
And Minister Darragh O'Brien says the government's housing targets for 2021 won't be met.
"Well the new build target for public social housing of new homes is 9,500 - there's no question that that's going to be impacted.
"The evidence that I have in relation to each week of closure is around 800 homes, but that includes public and private.
"You're looking at in the region of 6,000-7000 homes that would have been delivered in 2021 now won't be."
