The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been slammed for purchasing land for rewilding during the housing crisis.

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has called into question what it said is the "expressed policy of government ministers and our Taoiseach [Micheál Martin] to use state money in the purchasing of lands to increase the size and number of national parks".

Vincent Roddy, the association's president, said: "It is absolutely mind-boggling that we have people inside the Department of Housing actively looking to purchase farmland for rewilding while over 15,000 people remain homeless, including 4,600 children.

"With numbers such as this you would expect the government and this department to focus on acquiring land to build houses or maybe developing existing state land for housing," Roddy added.

He went on to outline what he said was the impact of those land purchases for farmers and their communities.

"We are now seeing the state actively compete against farmers in the purchasing of land, which is having a detrimental effect on access to land, especially for young farmers, while also undermining economic activity in these communities," Roddy said.

The INHFA president also claimed that this policy is "at variance" with the Irish constitution, which Roddy said "outlines the need to retain as many families as is economically practicable on the land".

The wording of the constitution in this regard is: "The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that there may be established on the land in economic security as many families as in the circumstances shall be practicable."

Roddy called for "an immediate reassessment" of the current policy, amid "growing concerns around food security and ongoing rural decline".

"Through active engagement with farmers we can deliver much better outcomes in terms of economic and environmental sustainability while ensuring there is more funding available to address the housing crisis," he said.