2023 saw highest number of new homes built in Cavan in over a decade

CRITICISM Sinn Féin say more is required

The number of new homes delivered in Cavan last year was the highest annual total since the CSO data series began in 2011. Figures released by the CSO show that in total, 262 new homes were completed in Cavan in 2023.

The upward trend in Cavan was reflected nationally with the number of new homes delivered last year the highest since 2008, with 32,695 new homes completed in 2023, 10% higher than in 2022 and exceeding the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ 2023 target of 29,000 by almost 13%

Planning permission was also granted in 2023 for over 37,600 homes across the country.

Commenting on the figures, the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, said: “The Government wants everyone to have a secure home and to have the opportunity to become a homeowner. So, we are now really stepping up home building each year, with a pipeline of well-built private, social, affordable and cost rental homes. We can see it on the ground, with new homes and apartments being built in Cavan and throughout the country. All the key housing indicators – commencements, completions and planning permissions – are trending upwards which bodes well for future supply.”

However the largest opposition party, Sinn Féin, say much more is needed to tackle the housing crisis.

In the party’s alternative budget for 2024, Sinn Féin earmarked around €2.1 billion to cover current and capital expenditure, including funds for approved housing bodies and local government.

The party proposes to build 13,000 social and 8,000 affordable housing units in 2024, at an additional cost of €1.4 billion. These are up from the Government’s respective targets of 9,300 and 6,400 for the year, as laid out in its ‘Housing For All’ plan.

The party’s housing spokesperson, Pearse Doherty, described the plan as “the biggest level of investment ever in the history of the State in terms of housing”.

The alternative budget also included €294 million for 1,000 turnkey social housing units, which Féin say would be used to end homelessness among people aged over 55 within the year.

The party promise to deliver these units within 12 months by “using emergency procurement and planning powers combined with new building technologies”.

Elsewhere, Sinn Féin said it would speed up the planning process by increasing staff at An Bord Pleanála and in the wider planning system, at a cost of €13.2 million.

The alternative budget also included a rent return, which would see renters get back a month’s worth of rent, in addition to a three-year rent freeze, at a cost of €200 million for the year to the exchequer.