723 new homes were built in Limerick in the 12 months to end of June, following the introduction of a number of measures under the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ plan.
Marking the first anniversary of the plan, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that in addition to the new builds, which represented a 23.6 per cent increase on the previous year, planning permissions for 1,459 homes were received by Limerick City and County Council, which was a 81.7per cent increase.
323 new social homes were delivered in Limerick last year and approval was given to Limerick City and County Council for the creation of six new posts specifically assigned for the delivery of local authority housing.
“We also introduced an exemption from planning permission for converting vacant Limerick pubs into homes and the existing exemptions for converting vacant commercial premises into homes in Limerick have been extended”, Minister O’Brien added.
Between 2018 and 2021, 113 residential units were provided in Limerick through 52 notifications of exempted developments.
Commenting on the role of local authorities in delivering housing in Limerick, Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke said that Limerick City and County Council was playing a central role in delivering housing in the county.
“Over the past 12 months the Government has provided resources and funding to the council to help it deliver for people in Limerick. I’ve recently issued guidelines to Limerick City and County Council on the making of their county development plan to ensure it takes into account projected housing need so that sufficient new homes can be built in key areas of housing demand.
“We have also streamlined the processes for the procurement of social housing,” he added.
