Ireland needs to ‘bypass the naysayers’, developers tell housing committee

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Housing developers have urged legislators to “bypass the naysayers” in order to boost Ireland’s housing supply.

The Dáil’s housing committee heard that the country was on course to have just over 30,000 new builds by the end of the year – in line with predictions earlier this year that around 34,000 new homes would be built in 2025.

Housing Minister James Browne had said previously that it was “not realistic” that the government’s target of 41,000 new builds would be met.

Mr Browne said on Tuesday the government’s new housing plan would be published within the next two weeks, emphasising how they could boost housing supply.

Ireland needs to bypass the naysayers, and Ireland needs to do what it knows is right without getting bogged down in endless discussions and objections

Appearing before the housing committee on Tuesday afternoon, the head of developer Glenveagh said that “the planning elite” at local level needs to be stopped as they are “refusing to implement national policy”.

Stephen Garvey, chief executive of Glenveagh Homes, told the committee that housing was being stopped by “frivolous” objections to solutions that were not perfect, but were workable.

“Ireland needs to bypass the naysayers, and Ireland needs to do what it knows is right without getting bogged down in endless discussions and objections.”

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the comments about the “planning elite” were “not helpful”.

He said that the Clonburris development was in his constituency and that the “planning elite that you’re talking about designed that”.

Mr Garvey replied that Clonburris is “an excellent scheme” that was “excellently planned”.

“The people behind did a fantastic job. Are those people existing in the planning system today? I’m not so sure, because Clonburris, (it is) probably 20 odd years ago since it was conceived. I’m not sure we still have the same degree of planners.

“We see in some elements of local area plans where perfection is the enemy of very good and people are not being pragmatic.

“We are in crisis mode on infrastructure.”

Michael Stanley, chief executive of Cairn Homes, said the demand for apartments is growing as younger people “increasingly want well-located homes on or near transport services, and particularly near their employment”.

He said Cairn would be “relentless” in its efforts to boost housing supply, and added that he did not think labour was a “massive constraint”.

David Kennedy, chairman of Castlethorn, said the threat of judicial reviews were a “drag on delivery” and said “serious bottlenecks” needed to be eliminated.