Tipperary’s social housing targets give ‘very little hope’ to people waiting on a home
Frustration has been shown with the slow progress of housing delivery across Tipperary at a recent municipal district meeting.
At the July meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Fine Gael councillor Marie Murphy hit out that a housing development in the village of Clogheen had been delayed numerous times, despite the country finding itself in the grips of a housing crisis.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Murphy sought an update on the timeline for delivery of the development, but called for things to move faster for families who are on Tipperary County Council’s housing list.
"With reference to the new houses for Clogheen, I note that it’s now gone back to Part 8 … and I’ve asked these questions before and I’m going to ask them again, when it it expected that this project will start the Part 8 process? When will it go to tender stage, when will there be boots on the ground and how long will construction take?
"From my point of view, it’s really frustrating that there’s been a holdup on commencement of works in both Clogheen and Mountain View Drive in Cahir, we’re in the middle of a housing crisis and yet we have these projects on the agenda for years at this stage,” she hit out.
A Part 8 planning application is made when the council are the ones applying for planning permission for a development.
"I was told in 2023 that the houses in Clogheen should be built by the end of 2025 or early 2026, and I told constituents that in good faith, and that’s certainly not going to happen now, as other than preliminary works to clear the site, it appears we’re no further along,” Cllr Murphy added.
The meeting was told that there are 850 people on the local authority’s social housing list in the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel municipal area, with a total of 224 homes at various stages of development across the district.
16 homes in Tipperary Town have also been delayed, the meeting heard, while there is also up to 27 houses lying empty in the village of Emly, with councillors calling for these to be brought into use.
Sinn Féin councillor Annemarie Ryan called for the housing targets for the district to be revised in light of the fact that 850 people in the area are waiting for a social home.
"We really need to reexamine the housing targets for this district, because it’s not enough, if we’re building 224 houses but we’ve got 850 people on the list for Tipperary, Cashel and Cahir, it leaves very, very little hope for many people,” Cllr Ryan said.
"I would say especially in Tipperary town, we have no build projects in Tipperary town, bar two houses on Father Matthew Street … so we’re only building two properties in the whole of Tipperary town, and we have a housing list of 850 in this district alone,” the Sinn Féin councillor added.
In response, representatives from the council’s housing section said that many delays in providing housing across the district are out of the council’s control, but that they are looking at sites across the district that can be used for social housing.
"We do have an extensive housing programme throughout the whole county, and we are aiming to deliver above our targets by 2026 and I appreciate that not every area is covered, but we have a fair distribution of projects across the county,” councillors were told.