Concern Cork city northside communities 'losing out' as people forced to move to suburbs 

Northside communities in Cork city are “losing out” as people are forced to move to the suburbs due to a lack of available affordable and private housing, a local councillor has said.

Sinn Féin councilor for Cork City North West Kenneth Collins said housing supply is not meeting demand on the northside which is forcing people to move out of their communities.

His comments come following the publication of the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) New Dwelling Completions Q2 2024 report which has shown a decrease in the number of completed dwellings recorded in Cork in Q2 of this year compared to Q2, 2023.

According to the report, there were 839 completed dwellings across Cork in Q2 of this year, 307 of which were in the city centre and 532 of which were in the county.

In Q2, 2023 there were a total of 844 completed dwellings across Cork, including 316 in the city centre and 528 in the county.

Nationally, there were 6,884 new dwelling completions over Q2, 2024, a fall of 5.4% on the same three months of 2023.

More than half of completions (57.4%) were scheme dwellings, 22.7% were apartments, and 19.9% were single dwellings.

The South-West region, which includes Cork and Kerry, had the most single completions in Q2, 2024 (235), with Cork County (151) recording the most one-off dwelling completions.

In Cork, completed dwellings by LEA included 15 in Kanturk LEA, 37 in Mallow LEA, 45 in Fermoy LEA, 117 in Midleton LEA, 80 in Cobh LEA, 84 in Carrigaline LEA, 40 in Cork City South Central LEA, 58 in Cork City South East LEA, 133 in Cork City South West LEA, 34 in Cork City North West LEA, 42 in Cork City North East LEA, 39 in Bandon-Kinsale LEA, 37 in Skibbereen LEA, 23 in Bantry LEA and 55 in Macroom LEA.

Impact on community

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Collins, whose ward saw 111 dwellings completed in Q2, 2023 compared to 34 completed dwellings in Q2, 2024, said: “It’s a mix that we need, of affordable, social and private [housing] to get everybody right.

“Sinn Féin’s opinion is that there is an imbalance of the northside versus southside and that’s not just in relation to housing, it’s with everything.

“34 [completed dwellings] in the North West and 42 in the North East is crazy. Unfortunately, people of the northside have to leave their communities because the private or affordable houses needed aren’t being built in the North West of the city, and across the whole city really, and people then have to move out to the suburbs and beyond such as Whitechurch, Castlemartyr, Ladysbridge.

“It’s a knock-on effect economically because the local economy in that area is losing out, GAA clubs, sporting organisations, youth clubs, they’re all losing people because they have to move out.” 

Independent councilor for Cork City North East Ken O’Flynn described the comparison between the number of completed dwellings on the northside and the southside of the city as “unacceptable”.

“This inequity in housing development is unacceptable and further exacerbates the already pressing issue of housing availability in our city,” Mr O’Flynn said.

“We urge immediate action and commitment from relevant authorities to address this disparity and ensure fair and equitable access to housing for all residents across Cork city.” 

Green Party councillor for Cork North East Oliver Moran said that housing estates and apartments are 95% of new units in the Cork City Council area. 

"About two-thirds of all new homes are in housing estates and more than a quarter are apartments. Because of that, there can be variation across the city from one quarter to another as different schemes are completed at different times in different places.

"This quarter, there was an unusual difference between northside and southside because of estates and apartments completed in the South West ward. This wasn't the case in previous quarters. In fact, the balance of development over the past 18 months is almost exactly the same between north and south of the city. There were 791 units of all kinds completed on the northside and 796 completed on the southside."

Highest number of completed dwellings

Meanwhile, Cork City South West recorded the highest number of completed dwellings across the city in Q2 - with a total of 133 dwellings completed in the ward.

Labour Party councilor for Cork City South West Laura Harmon, said: ‘’While I welcome the progress on new dwellings being built in Cork, the reality is that this is just a drop in the ocean of what is actually required to meet the demand for housing.

“On these figures, we aren’t even running to stand still. Recent figures on homelessness show that 14,303 people are without a home in Ireland - a 14% increase on this time last year. We must do much better to solve the housing crisis and rapidly scale up building new homes and tackling dereliction.”