Cork Chamber of Commerce calls for the building of new homes outside Dublin

The president of the Cork Chamber of Commerce last night urged the Government to encourage the building of new homes in all urban centres, including Cork, and not predominantly focus on Dublin, because housing shortages were beginning to affect international investment decisions right across the country.

Barrie O’Connell said there was evidence that shortages of suitable rental and permanent accommodation would start influencing decisions of multinational executives from investing in Cork and other areas outside of the capital.

In a speech to the Cork Chamber of Commerce’s annual Dublin Dinner, which Taoiseach Enda Kenny also addressed, Mr O’Connell said Nama could play a greater role in encouraging housing developments outside the capital.

He said it was “not right” that 90% of the agency’s projects were focused on the Dublin area.

“In Chamber’s view, the single biggest risk and constraint to continued economic growth, in our control, is provision of suitable housing for our talented employees,” he said.

Much could be achieved with collaboration between Dublin and Cork, he said, to relieve pressure and congestion in the Dublin region.

Citing construction projects such as Albert Quay and Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Mr O’Connell said that Cork was “on the cusp of a major transformation”.

But “clarity on delivery and on funding” was needed from the Government in its multi-year capital spending plans for progress to be secured, he said.

Ireland had many indigenous “success stories” too, with Musgrave Group standing out as an example of an Irish company that had expanded internationally, he added.