The site, previously owned by the ESB, was transferred to the Land Development Agency (LDA) following an agreement which was reached in August of last year.

The total number of vacant sites, calculated at the start of each year, was 177 in 2022. This fell to 141 in 2023 and 142 in 2024, but rose again to 183 at the start of 2025.

Last year (2024) saw the highest change of use notifications received by local authorities across Ireland since the scheme began in 2018.

The local senator said students are now looking at the real risk of rent jumps every September if they need to move or sign a new lease.

Clúid, the Approved Housing Body (AHB), has opened the applications for the 28 new homes at Longview in Ballyvolane, where rent will be offered at a 30% discount.

The 102 unit development will be located in the townland of Annabella, approximately 1.5km outside of Mallow.

The Cork Council of Trade Unions is combining with a number of political parties and community groups to highlight the housing crisis across Cork city as part of Raise the Roof, a national movement.

The figures were released as Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in the Dáil last month that local authorities take too long to release homes that have been vacated.

“What we’re talking about here, in simple terms, is the ability of your Government to ensure the very basics: water, electricity connections, houses."

A spokesperson for the students’ union described housing as the “most significant financial pressure” for students.

Speaking in the Dáil during statements on the programme for government, Sinn Féin TD for Cork South-Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the Government needs to ensure that ageing social housing flats prone to cold and damp are given a complete overhaul.

The December 2024 report, published today, found that there was just one HAP property in Cork city’s suburbs, and none in Cork city.

The plans, lodged by Clockstrike Ltd, will see a mix of 246 houses and apartments built.

The development on the Farranlea Road site will consist of five one-bed units and seven two-bed units.

Cork County Council is inviting prospective homeowners to apply from 12 noon on Monday, November 25.

“The large gap between the cost of new and existing tenancies is one that many households cannot afford to fill. This is particularly concerning, given the large numbers of households receiving eviction notices."

The RTB has released a new ‘Profile of the Register’ data series, providing information on all private and AHB tenancies registered with the RTB which shows 5,151 AHB tenancies and 25,041 private tenancies in Cork in Q1 2024.

John Paul O'Shea, who represents the Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District, said that just 60,000 of 250,000 entitled to the relief had applied for the rent tax credit in 2023.

Constructed by the O’Flynn Group, the houses will generally be available for first-time buyers who do not own a home and Fresh Start applicants.

He had asked the council’s chief executive, Ann Doherty, about the number of modular and rapid-build units involved in the council’s social housing programme, and whether there were further developments proposed.

The Housing Commission has estimated that, as of the 2022 Census, there was a housing deficit of between 212,500 and 256,000 homes in Ireland.

Speaking to The Echo, he said the housing crisis is the “biggest issue” the coalition continues to face but asserted that progress is being made.

Around 40 people attended the meeting in Togher Community Centre, which was organised by Labour Party local election candidate for the Cork City South West ward, Laura Harmon

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said the council does not comment in regard to individual properties, but noted works had commenced on a planned set of internal repairs to apartments.

To underpin regional balance, 50% of the projected population growth is to be targeted into the five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford

However, while prices fell in Q4, they were up when compared to a year prior.

Laura Harmon said that there were currently over 3,000 vacant properties on Cork city’s Southside.

Cork has been listed among Ireland’s top three most unaffordable locations for first time buyers in a damning new report published by the Society of Chartered Surveyors

A spokesperson for the LDA confirmed to The Echo that it is finalising commercial terms with HQ Developments for the delivery of 302 apartments at Horgan’s Quay

Rimgita Anusauskaite who lives on Noonan’s Road in Cork city spoke to The Echo ahead of her due date. The social housing resident said she doesn’t want a second child to be born into the same conditions that have significantly impacted her three-year-old daughter

Evie Nevin, who was recently selected as the Labour Party candidate in the Clonakilty/Skibbereen electoral area, said her concern was based on new statistics from the Central Statistics Office.

Council tenants living in flats on Noonan’s Road, St Finbarr’s Road, Fort Street, and Dean Street, residences the council says it favours demolishing, have been subjected in recent weeks to annual rent reviews, as required under the 2009 Housing Act.

Applications will be accepted via an online application portal

Several council tenants in the Baker’s Road flats in Gurranabraher showed The Echo internal walls and ceilings which are speckled with black mould and covered in peeling plaster

“And if you don’t fight, you’ll be in the same position in 10 years’ time, because they don’t give a shit about people in social housing or working-class people, and that’s the facts of it,” he said.

Tenants in a Cork estate intend to hold a rally at 5.30pm this evening to protest what they say are poor living conditions and a lack of action by Cork City Council.

The hotel had been boarded up in recent years and was gutted in a suspected arson attack last year

Kinsale continued to have the highest median price in Cork at €410,000

“For so many workers and families, the spike in interest costs is too much to bear as they deal with a wider cost-of-living crisis," Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said.

It comes as the recently published Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) Census 2022 Profile 2 – Housing in Ireland report revealed that the number of vacant dwellings in Cork city and county was 17,055

Cork Simon campaigns and communications manager Paul Sheehan said that rent coupled with high living costs have locked many people out of society

Tenants of the 60-year-old development had accused the council of having “abandoned” them in rodent-infested, mould-ridden dilapidated homes

Nationally, the report found 934 properties available to rent at any price within 16 areas in the country over three dates surveyed in June.

During the visit to the flats, which residents have said have been “forgotten” by the council for decades, Ms Doherty apologised to residents and said she was “shocked” at conditions there.

The chief executive of Cork City Council has apologised to social housing residents of Noonan's Road and St Finbarr's Road. 

Some residents have questioned the timing of a large-scale clean-up of the Noonan's Road area which has occurred days before a planned visit by Cork City Council's executive to the local authority homes.

The funds raised will go toward Focus Ireland's efforts in Cork and the Southwest

Assistant manager of Threshold’s southern regional services office, Regina Baylor, said the unlawful retention of a deposit can have major impacts on renters.

There are 23 conditions attached to the council’s approval of the development.

Cork City Council’s assistant chief executive, and other members of the council executive, are due to visit Noonan’s Road and St Finbarr’s Road on Monday evening.