Independent Ireland leader, TD Michael Collins has called for the ongoing housing shortage to be declared an “emergency”.
In a statement the Cork native said that this was needed to “end serial objections [to developments] and fix planning and water infrastructure gridlock.”
Collins said that time has come for the Government to formally declare a housing emergency and introduce emergency legislation that will put an end to the planning paralysis driven by “serial objectors and procedural sabotage”.
He said it was “frankly absurd” that critical housing and infrastructure projects across Ireland are being blocked by individuals or groups “with no connection to the communities affected and no accountability for the consequences.”
“We are back on the blame merry-go-round,” said Collins. “The Government blames Irish Water, Irish Water blames the Government, and nothing gets done. Meanwhile, a person or group in Donegal can submit an objection that stops a wastewater plant being built in West Cork. It’s nonsensical—and we are at a standstill as a result.”
The Cork South-West TD described the situation in parts of West Cork as “scandalous”, pointing to rural communities where new housing is impossible because of inadequate or non-existent water infrastructure, with no clarity on when—if ever—this will be resolved.
“There are towns and villages where people literally cannot build a home because the infrastructure isn’t there—and they’re being told we don’t know if this will be resolved by 2030, 2040 or even 2050,” he said. “How can that be acceptable in a functioning democracy?”
Collins said the combination of serial objections, legal challenges, and fragmented responsibility between agencies has created a planning system “that rewards delay and penalises delivery.”
He said he believes that declaring a housing emergency would give the State the legal framework to urgently reform planning laws, limit vexatious and distant objections, prioritise infrastructure delivery, and unlock housing projects that have been stuck in limbo.
“This is not about overriding genuine environmental or community concerns,” he said. “It’s about ending the circus where one or two individuals—sometimes from hundreds of kilometres away—can hold entire communities to ransom while thousands remain homeless.”
He reiterated calls for the Government to convene a special sitting of the Dáil and Seanad before the summer recess to pass emergency legislation.
“We cannot fix a housing crisis with a planning system that’s designed to stall,” he said. “And we cannot keep pretending this is business as usual. We need emergency powers. We need a housing emergency declared. And we need action—not excuses.”
As Gript reported last March, the Government will fall short of its own housing targets for the next three years in a row, according to a forecast from the Central Bank.
A warning that the years ahead will feature economic uncertainty due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs was included in the Central Bank’s first quarterly bulletin for the year. In the report, the Central Bank has reduced its forecast for economic growth for 2025 due to growing uncertainty as a result of the trade war between the US and Europe. It predicts that Ireland’s economy will grow by 2.7 per cent – 0.5 per cent lower than its last forecast.
It adds that due to a fall in residential construction last year, fewer homes will be built domestically over the next two years than it had previously forecast.
Last year, the bank said that there would need to be 70,000 homes built annually in Ireland over the next decade in line with population growth and in order to meet the housing shortfall. However, in 2024, just over 30,000 houses and apartments were built.
You can read the full article here.