Independent Ireland TD for Limerick County, Richard O’Donoghue, has warned that government inaction on soaring construction costs and fuel volatility is making it increasingly difficult to build homes and sustain local communities across Limerick and rural Ireland.
Deputy O’Donoghue, who continues to work directly within the construction industry while serving in Dáil Éireann, said suppliers are effectively “gouging” builders through constant price hikes on oil-based construction materials, placing enormous pressure on contractors, developers, and ultimately ordinary families trying to access housing.
The Limerick TD explained that many essential building products, including insulation, piping, silicones, and other core materials, are heavily dependent on international oil prices. As fuel markets fluctuate weekly, builders are left facing spiralling and unpredictable costs.
“The price of things at the moment are fluctuating on a weekly basis,” Deputy O’Donoghue said. “There are controls outside of the State, but I believe there’s a lot of gouging going on. The first thing that happens when oil fluctuates is transport costs rise immediately, and then every oil-based product follows.”
Deputy O’Donoghue said the Government has failed to grasp the compounding effect that fuel volatility is having on the construction industry and housing delivery.
“As someone actively involved on building sites, I can see firsthand the pressure local builders are under. Small contractors cannot continue pricing jobs when material costs are changing week to week. It is making housing projects harder to deliver and driving up the final cost for ordinary people.”
The Independent Ireland TD revealed that he recently challenged the Tánaiste and Minister Jack Chambers during an Oireachtas oversight committee meeting regarding the need for stronger intervention and fuel price stabilisation measures.
However, Deputy O’Donoghue said ministers continue to take a reactive approach instead of addressing the root causes of rising costs.
“The Government is completely disconnected from what ordinary workers and local businesses are dealing with. They are too focused on multinational corporations and headline economic figures while ignoring the people who actually keep communities alive.”
Deputy O’Donoghue stressed that lower and middle-income workers are the backbone of both rural and urban Ireland, contributing not only economically but socially within their communities.
“You can have a lower earner who is doing massive work within their local community,” he said. “Those are the people who keep towns and villages going. They create the communities that attract investment and international business into areas like Limerick.”
The Limerick TD is now calling for targeted Government action to reduce fuel-related pressures, support local builders, and deliver meaningful cost-of-living relief for workers and small businesses.
“If we continue to ignore the ordinary worker, we will damage the very foundation of our economy and our communities. Supporting local builders, tradespeople, and working families is essential if we are serious about solving the housing crisis and protecting rural Ireland.”
However, an Tánaiste, Simon Harris, at the weekend defended the Government after the Chair of the European Parliament’s Housing Committee said Ireland’s housing crisis as amongst the “most severe” and “most complicated” in Europe.
Italian MEP Irene Tinagli said that evictions, institutional investors and the growth of short-term lets are all contributing to the pressure on housing – but an Tánaiste hit back saying completions of new homes in Ireland “are well above the European average, “and “in fact one of the very highest”.
“I go to Brussels at least once a month, housing is a challenge in all Member States,” he added.
“During our Presidency of the Council of the European Union Ireland we will host a housing summit so we can share ideas and learnings.
But he acknowledged the emergency in housing: “Let me be really clear, there is a housing emergency in this country. There are too many young people who find the social contract broken and that is why I think there needs to be zero tolerance in relation to bureaucracy and downright nonsense. That is why we need to update the rural housing guidelines to have a consistent approach,” he said.
“That is why we need to continue to back schemes like the Help to Buy which others want to get rid of which I think is ludicrous.