Private cash may be sought for homes by Mayor of Limerick John Moran

MAYOR John Moran says he may turn to the private sector to press on with his flagship plan to develop 2,000 modular housing units in the city.
It comes after ministers said they would only back the construction of 150 of the homes in a pilot scheme - and cut the staff numbers dedicated to it from six to two. It’s a move he says “fundamentally jeopardises the delivery of the programme”.
However, he has said he is “not by any measure giving up” on the plan.
Instead, he is ploughing ahead with planning the first 1,000 of the homes at five sites across the city.

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Mayor Moran also expressed frustration at ministers for the amount of time it took to decide on his plans, which he hopes will ease the housing crisis by providing short-term homes while long-term accommodation is built.
Referring to the Department of Housing, he said: “They obviously agree with it, because otherwise they wouldn’t have given us any pilot. If they thought it was a bad idea, they’d say they can’t do anything”.
“What is disappointing about it is, at a time of so much money in the country, of so much being invested, here is Limerick doing an innovative solution that they know works, which is why they are willing to fund the pilot,” added Mayor Moran.
Rather than accepting the Department of Housing’s verdict, the directly elected mayor says he is going to pump money from his €7m-a-year fund to move things on.
Architects are to be put in place to design the schemes and planning permission will be sought to ensure any building is ready to go at short notice, said the mayor.
“In December, we identified five sites we can still drive forward on, about half of our 2,000 units, and I will use the mayoral fund to pay for the planning permissions and the design work on those five sites,” he confirmed.
Mayor Moran said other ways will be sought if Government is not willing to lend the cash to deliver the homes.
“For me, the housing crisis is too important in Limerick. The worst that happens here is we find ourselves unable to borrow money from Government to make the units. Then we design the units and get planning permission and in some way do a joint venture with the private sector, so we manage them, but they finance them,” he said.
However, the first citizen said he remains open to talks with the Department in the hope they change course.
Next year’s Ryder Cup tournament in Adare has focused Mayor Moran’s mind.
“If we had to do the pilot, by the time we had proven to them it was the right thing to do, we are already at the start of 2027 which is the year of the Ryder Cup. We’ve already lost six months, with the backwards and forwards trying to prove a business case.”