Louth County Council will withdraw bids on houses first time buyers are looking at

By Olivia Ryan, The Drogheda Independent

Louth County Council will withdraw it’s bid for a house if first-time buyers are also looking at the property, it emerged this week.

Concerns had been raised at the January meeting of Dundalk Municipal District that house hunters were being outbid by the local authority, which is actively working to acquire a range of homes for people on the social housing waiting list.

But Ger Murphy, Director of Service (Housing) moved to reassure councillors that this was not the case.

Speaking at the first Louth County Council meeting of 2026, he told councillors that a second home acquisition programme is in place.

"But where we are alerted that a first-time buyer is interested in one of the houses that we have expressed an interest in, we then divest ourselves of the acquisition.”

In 2025 the council received €12 million from the department for second hand acquisitions, for the purpose of buying houses under the tenant-in-situ scheme and to tackle homelessness.

He said this was “one of the strings in our bow” to provide social housing.

He stressed that if the local authority are made aware by an estate agent that a first-time buyer is looking at buying a property they will withdraw their interest.

Cllr. Shane McGuinness said that the council’s involvement in buying second hand properties was “affecting young people get on the housing ladder.”

He said it wasn’t an ideal situation, but accepted it was one option to help with the delivery of social housing in Louth.

He said that he had become aware in recent weeks of anti-social activity in houses which are bought by the council in private estates.

"The people moving in are causing havoc within days of moving in,” said Cllr. McGuinness.

"Surely we must have some responsibility to vet these people, look at their track record and try to evict them, which I know would be a last resort, but it’s not fair on the existing neighbours who have lived there all their lives to be disrupted in this way.”

He called for the council to “put more emphasis on the very confusing model of grants in Louth, including Vacant Homes grant scheme, the Lease and Repair scheme and a number of other initiatives.

He asked if the council could provide more information to the public on the range of grant schemes and the “mechanics involved” including eligibility.

The Director of Services confirmed that the council will continue to acquire housing within private developments, which would involve anti social behaviour management and estate management.

The council are currently reviewing the anti-social behaviour policy, he added, with a view to putting in place measures for the coming years.