'State agencies hindering country's housing plans'

Construction Industry Federation's Southern Construct also heard serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of the State's role in funding residential development

Thu, 21 May, 2026 - 17:58

Alan Healy

Senior construction industry figures have sharply criticised State bodies for protecting their infrastructure from further housing development at the same time local councils are being urged to rezone more land for new homes.

The Construction Industry Federation's (CIF) Southern Construct also heard from former minister Simon Coveney, who said State bodies should not be making appeals to An Coimisiún Pleanála, which can add months to important housing developments.

During a panel discussion, Conor O'Connell, the CIF's director of housing, planning and development, said each local authority was asked by the Government last July to rezone more land for housing, which they did.

However, he said the submissions to State bodies like Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), National Transport Authority, and the Office of the Planning Regulator made on Cork City Council's plans to rezone 270 hectares of land were "unhelpful".

"We had a situation where the councils were told that their first job was to go out and what they had to concentrate on was zoning more land, and they did that. They proposed to zone more land so we can deliver more housing," he said.

"Yet at the same time, other actors of the State, I won't say are objecting, would have made very serious comments in relation to the proposals to supply more zoned land around Cork for housing.

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"I couldn't encourage people enough, in particular to read the TII letter because it's an example of the bureaucratic and regulatory mess that we get ourselves into in relation to housing supply and delivery in Ireland."

Mr O'Connell was joined on the panel by Brian Geaney, the assistant chief executive of Cork City Council, who confirmed the council went through a rigorous process on the rezoning proposals.

Cork City Council plans to rezone 270 hectares of land for housing. Picture: Larry Cummins

"It's fine for the 31 local authorities to bring forward proposals, but unless the other agencies of the State are supportive of these, we're going nowhere. The clue is in the title — we have a housing crisis."

Kieran O'Donovan of Murnane O'Shea also sat on the panel and said a huge amount of land was de-zoned in 2022, which he said was a major mistake in hindsight.

Now there's an effort to rezone, and State institutions are again standing in the way. "It's a complete step backwards," he said.

In a later panel, Mr Coveney said senior planners in councils around the country make decisions and that those decisions should be respected.

"The idea that we have a State body objecting to a planning decision that's been made by a local authority, taking that to a commissioner, delaying it for another six, eight, 12, 18 months, and the expense of that, those are the kind of things that the State needs to sort out.

"We have to trust senior planners in local authorities to make planning decisions on the basis of national policy and, of course, county and city development plans. Other arms of the state have to accept and respect those decisions," he said.

The conference also heard serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of the State's role in funding residential development.

Mr Coveney, who previously served as minister for housing, said almost all apartment delivery was supported in some way.

"Our apartment market is effectively broken in Ireland," he said.

"If you can't get cash input or financial support from the State, you're not building apartments in general.

"There are some exceptions to that, but if you look at the projects in Cork, they're all linked to cost rental projects, they're all linked to social housing, affordable housing and some limited private for sale apartments."

While he acknowledged that State intervention is necessary in the short term, Mr Coveney warned that the funding model for private developers is under severe strain.

"The cost of at least 20% of the funding for private developers is very expensive," he said.

"The State needs to act early and give as much financial certainty to those projects as possible."

CIF president Stephen McCarthy, who heads Astra Construction, was direct about what reaching national targets would actually require.

"If we have to increase up to 60,000 homes a year, the level of funding required is about €40bn.

"The Government cannot keep investing the money they're spending in housing at the moment.

"Unless we really work on how the private market is going to work, we have no foundation to go forward."

"If a project is not viable, it won't be built. No matter how good the market is, unless you can make a profit, you cannot get funding — so it's not going to happen," he said.

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