‘Significant pipeline of social and affordable homes in Cork’, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rejected the suggestion that 324 new social homes announced for Cork yesterday will have little impact on a city with 2,760 people on social housing waiting lists.

Mr Martin was speaking after he had turned the sod on two Cork city housing projects which, when completed, will deliver a total of 823 new homes — 324 social homes and 499 affordable houses.

The developments consist of the 217-unit Railyard Apartments scheme on the old Sextant site, which will include Ireland’s tallest residential building, and the 606-unit Creamfields development on the old Kinsale Rd.

The Railyard will have 99 social and 118 cost-rental homes, while the Creamfields site will have 225 social and 381 cost-rental homes.

Significant

Asked by The Echo whether those social homes would be “a drop in the ocean” against the city’s 2,761 waiting list, Mr Martin said they would be a “very significant” addition.

“On top of the earlier social housing projects that were announced last year, I think we’re at a scale of social housing development that we haven’t seen since the 1970s,” he said.

“And indeed there’s a very significant pipeline of social and affordable houses now both here in Cork and indeed nationally.”

Speaking at the sod-turning at the Creamfields development on the former CMP site on the old Kinsale Rd, Mr Martin said the number of new builds for last year was likely to be somewhere between 30,000 and “the mid-30s”, a figure he conceded was not high enough.

“We’ll probably for 2025 be on 30,000, I don’t know the precise figure, mid-30s maybe, that’s not enough, until we get to 50,000-plus over a sustained period of time, that’s the key objective for us, in terms of dealing with the growth in population, and also to enable housing to be affordable for people to be able to rent and to buy,” he said.

“We need developments to happen quickly, and that’s why we’re reforming our planning laws, reforming our judicial reviews, all of that is designed to try and make projects more viable and to get projects done as quickly as we possibly can.”

Figures

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there were 30,330 new dwelling completions in the whole of 2024, down from the 32,525 completed in 2023. CSO figures for 2025 are not yet available.

The Railyard scheme, on the city centre site of the old Sextant and the former Carey Tool Hire, is expected to be completed by the end of 2027 and will comprise of a mix of studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.

The development will include 118 cost rental homes, with rents at least 25% below the market average; 77 general needs social homes; and 22 age-friendly social homes for individuals and families on Cork City Council’s housing list.

The development will feature the tallest residential building in Ireland, standing 85.35 metres high, with a landmark, slender 25-storey tower, stepping down to 12 storeys and then nine storeys.

PJ Hegarty, the main contractor on the project, has been on site for several months carrying out site clearance, road realignment and piling works.

The Creamfields scheme is being developed by approved housing body Respond in partnership with Cork City Council, the Department of Housing, the Housing Finance Agency, and The Housing Agency, with construction led by Cairn Homes.

It is Respond’s largest development in Cork to date, and it will be one of the largest mixed-tenure housing developments to be built in the city for several years, providing 606 new homes on the former CMP dairy site. The development will consist of 225 social homes and 381 cost rental homes, as well as residential courtyards, parkland, commercial units, and a town square overlooked by a 15-storey residential tower.

Phases

The homes will be delivered in four phases, with the first phase, due to be completed by the end of 2028, providing 112 homes.

Phases two, three and four will deliver 268, 167 and 59 homes respectively, and once fully complete, the development with consist of 558 apartments and 48 duplex houses.

The social homes will be assigned to tenants from Cork City Council’s housing waiting list upon completion, while the cost rental homes will be allocated by lottery at rental rates at least 25% below local market rates.

Cork city currently has a social housing waiting list of 2,761 people, and Cork City Council is actively engaged either directly or indirectly in the construction of, or planning for, 3,500 social or affordable homes at sites across the city, representing an investment of some €1.2bn.

Important milestone

Welcoming yesterday’s sod-turning ceremonies, Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy said they marked an important milestone for the city.

“These projects, supported by Cork City Council, are about more than bricks and mortar,” he said.

“They are about providing secure, high-quality homes for families who need them most, and it’s about regeneration.

“I am proud to see Cork showing leadership and vision when it comes to social housing delivery, and building at scale to deliver sustainable housing solutions that will make a real difference in people’s lives for generations to come.”

Cork City Council chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan said the developments showed what can be achieved when “ambitious and dynamic local authorities work in partnership with equally ambitious partners”.

Cork City Council assistant chief executive Brian Geaney said the two developments were the result of a collaborative partnership between Cork City Council, central Government, housing bodies, and private developers.