Rental wreck: The accommodation crisis in Munster's towns

Clonmel and Ballincollig have big employers and young populations working for them. But another thing they have in common, is nowhere for those workers to live. Ann Murphy reports

Tipperary County Council offices in Clonmel. In Tipperary, the target is to deliver 1,125 units between now and 2026. The council there says that brown-field sites are now being targeted in the county for acquisition for the projects. Picture Dan Linehan

On the night of Census 2022, more than 166,000 houses lay vacant across the country, as renters found it increasingly difficult to find accommodation in a squeezed market.

This was against the backdrop of increasing numbers of evictions (1,781 in the three months between April and June) and the drawing up of housing delivery action plans in local authorities across the country.