Housing crisis forces council to acquire land

Donal Hickey

Compulsory purchase orders are to be issued for land in the seaside resorts of Ballyheigue and Glenbeigh, said the council's housing director, Philip O'Sullivan.

"The cost of land has gone through the roof and even when we're willing to pay the money there's extreme difficulty in acquiring land," he said.

The council has been outbid by private developers on several occasions in recent years, in places such as Killarney, where top choice sites of a half-acre, or less, fetch over E400,000 on the open market.

Mr O'Sullivan said they would continue to try to get land by agreement, but would have to acquire it compulsorily where agreement was not possible.

The council, which will spend almost 9 million on its housing programme this year, has a 130-acre land bank and is hoping to buy land in 41 towns and villages. There are 1,270 applicants for housing 861 of whom have been approved and last year the council built around 200 houses.

Mr O'Sullivan said a priority this year would be to provide social and affordable housing on private sites and 20% of zoned residential land would be available for this type of housing.

FF Cllr John Brassil said it was unfortunate no progress had been made in getting land in Ballyheigue since the area had been opened up for development, following the provision of a new sewage scheme.

Ind FF Cllr Danny Healy-Rae said a massive effort should be made to get land in villages, especially in the Killarney area where people seemed to be on a never-ending housing list. He said the council should not sell "one square inch" of its own land because housing land was so scarce.