THE announcement of 21 new homes being delivered across two housing developments in a Limerick village have received wide welcomes.
The developments are being built under the care of Croom Community Voluntary Housing Association (CVHA) who, established in 1999, have to date provided a total of 37 houses and apartments in the community of Croom.
Work commenced last year at 47/ 48 Main Street in Croom, estimated for completion in mid-2025 at a cost of €2 million, and will provide a total five new one-bed apartments for supply within the community.
The builder for the project is Croom native Mark Lynch Carpentry and Construction Ltd.
More recently, work also began on the newest project for CVHA at Towerfield, Croom, where site works commenced for the building of 16 new homes to be comprised of three-bed family homes, one and two-bed apartments, along with properties for people with a disability.
Following a tendering process, Custy contractors from Ennis were appointed as the contractor for the Towerfield project at a cost of €4.6m. It is expected the delivery of this project will take an estimated 18 months.
Fianna Fáil Local Election hopeful for the Adare-Rathkeale area, Trina O’Dea, who is a member of the Croom Community Voluntary Housing Association, sees these developments as very welcome and badly needed in Croom.
“Croom Community Voluntary Housing Association has a proud history of housing local people locally, and has helped many families with their housing needs in the community,” Ms O’Dea said.
However, the Fianna Fáil candidate says, such developments “are becoming much more difficult for voluntary housing associations to deliver”.
“Voluntary housing associations are willing to assist local authorities with local housing needs, however initial costs and red tape have become exponentially prohibitive,” she says.
In the case of the Croom developments, Ms O’Dea says that “before ground could break or the development could begin, CVHA had to pay quarter of a million euro up front to Uisce Éireann for something as simple as a connection”.
“This is money which eventually will come from the exchequer. There is no logic in this process, it just makes no sense. All it does is delay commencement of projects desperately needed in local communities.”
