Fears that ‘housing tourists’ applying for new Wexford builds are being given homes ahead of locals
Wexford PeopleSocial housing applicants in Co Wexford are switching their area of preference to villages where they know new developments are being built, thus creating a form of ‘housing tourism’ in the county.
With the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) tending to have the fewest number of new developments under construction at any given time, the argument has been made that this phenomenon is impacting its communities the hardest.
At the October meeting of the RMD, the scarcity in the district was underlined by SEO of Wexford County Council’s housing department Stephen O’Connor.
Revealing that 45 new units were projected to be delivered in the RMD between now and the end of 2027, Mr O’Connor said that, including the houses already built this year, that brought the total for the period between 2025-27 to 117. This includes 18 new builds in Tagoat which, although not officially opened, have been allocated to tenants, and a further 35 houses in Carrig-on-Bannow and Ballygillane which will be delivered before the end of the year.
And with just a handful of other projects scheduled for the RMD, Councillor Lisa McDonald expressed fears that those living locally would lose out to people who change their area of preference upon hearing of houses being built.
“When word gets out about new houses are people amending their areas of choice accordingly?” she asked. “If that’s the case, many of the local people who have applied are not getting the houses; people are essentially changing their area of choice to wherever they’re being built.
"We need to look at this as an issue. I know we can’t deter people from listing their area of choice but it seems like the system itself needs tweaking.”
Accepting that a “small number” of people do regularly change their area of preference to avail of new houses, Mr O’Connor said this practise is “not as widespread” as Cllr McDonald feared.
But the Fianna Fáil councillor said measures needed to be introduced to ensure those living locally were given first preference if houses were built in their area.
“The local person should be accommodated first. This is, in effect, housing tourism.”
“It highlights the panic people are in,” agreed Cllr Jim Codd, “there’s a rush to change their area of choice when they hear of new housing developments.”