Cork plans for thousands of new homes and jobs, despite pandemic and Brexit pressures

Cork County Council's draft county development plan anticipates 61,000 new people and more than 29,000 new homes, while targeting 36,500 new jobs

From left: director of services for planning at Cork County Council, Michael Lynch; mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley; chief executive of Cork County Council Tim Lucey; and Padraig Moore, senior planner, Cork County Council. Picture: Brian Lougheed

The new vision set out for Cork county anticipates 61,000 new people and more than 29,000 new homes, while targeting 36,500 new jobs using 2,000 hectares of land – albeit with the full effects of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic yet to be realised.

Cork County Council said its draft county development plan was prepared in anticipation of the "ambitious population and employment targets" set out in the previous Government's €116bn Project Ireland package to develop the country's social and economic infrastructure up to 2040.