Record year for council housing

Tipperary Co Council built 231 housing units in 2025, the highest yearly number achieved since the council returned to building in earnest in 2018.

The new units were delivered through the Housing For All programme, which, together with its predecessor, Rebuilding Ireland, is expected to see a minimum of 1,743 new social housing units built in Tipperary by the end of 2026.

While this progress was welcomed, several commentators at the council’s recent budget meeting expressed concern over the housing challenges that remain in Tipperary. Cllr Pat English observed that the council still has more than 3,500 applicants on its housing waiting list, and that this number has remained largely unchanged for several years. While the council does its best to accommodate those on the list, it still has almost 900 new applicants every year. “We have to get back to serious house building,” Cllr English said.

Cllr Joe Hannigan feared a “major exodus of landlords” from the private rental market once stronger tenancy protections come into effect on March 1. The council could find itself with even more housing applicants as a result. “There is a train coming down the tracks here,” he warned. Cllr Hannigan said the delay in upgrading local wastewater treatment plants is a major impediment to the delivery of new housing and he wondered if the council could do anything about the delay.

Director of Services Jonathan Cooney replied that Uisce Éireann has given the council permission to design housing schemes in advance of new treatment plant completion. The council has a number of schemes in train in that regard, he said.

NENAGH ‘FALLING BEHIND’

Councillors generally welcomed the local authority’s efforts to reduce the number of vacant units among its housing stock. Mr Cooney said the vacancy rate in 2020 stood at five per cent; now it is down to just 1.74.

While there would always be vacant housing stock, Mr Cooney said he would be happy if the council could keep the figure down at around 1.5 per cent. He added that Tipperary Co Council is one of the best performing local authorities in the country in terms of addressing vacancy.

However, Cllr Michael O’Meara believed there is a much higher rate of vacancy in the Nenagh district. While a lot of council houses had been allocated in Clonmel, there is an impression that “the Nenagh area is falling behind”, he said.

Cllr O’Meara also hit out at “serial offenders” causing damage to houses at great cost to the council.

Cllr Seán Ryan said the council would save money if it could make vacant units available again at an even quicker rate. The longer a house is left vacant, the more likely it is to become damaged as a result of antisocial behaviour, he reasoned.