Ireland's Housing Magazine 2017

Ireland's Housing Magazine


Ireland’s Housing Magazine 2017, published in association with eolas magazine and the Housing Agency, is the annual magazine for the Irish housing sector. It features in-depth articles focusing on the major issues including examining the progress of Rebuilding Ireland, interviews with leading figures and tackling social housing need.

19th July 2017

Calls for establishment of one-stop-shop to support housing associations

The contribution of housing associations in a housing market starved of new supply has been spotlighted by the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH). The organisation’s Chief Executive Officer Donal McManus has expressed his concern at the lack of progress on the establishment of a coordination unit, or a one-stop-shop, […]
19th July 2017

Ireland’s exploding housing emergency

Ireland is currently in the middle of a housing emergency with increasing demand for housing and growing levels of homelessness. It is a critical issue for the Government. The big question is how did it happen and how can it be resolved. The reason for this significant demand for housing […]
19th July 2017

Rebuilding Ireland review

As we approach the first anniversary of the launch of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness in July, it’s naturally a time of reflection and review. Department of Housing Secretary General, John McCarthy, writes. The Rebuilding Ireland launch anniversary also coincides with the appointment of Minister Eoghan […]
19th July 2017

Learning from our challenges?

John O’Connor, Chief Executive of the Housing Agency looks at the current issues in Irish housing and priorities moving forward. Ireland still has several legacy issues due to the economic crash. There is still a level of mortgage arrears, which is significantly more than the European norm and at levels […]
19th July 2017

Cover story – Just another form of housing

Brian O’Gorman, CEO of Clúid Housing, talks to Owen McQuade about the need to see social housing as just another form of housing and the housing association’s plans to deliver 2,500 new homes over three years. Brian O’Gorman was Clúid Housing’s first employee and is now its CEO. The largest […]
19th July 2017

Progress towards Rebuilding Ireland

Ireland’s Housing Magazine examines the progress of the Rebuilding Ireland Plan to date. The construction industry can generate 75,000 jobs, create 25,000 houses every year and deliver infrastructure projects worth over €26 billion, if a supportive policy framework is in place, according to the Construction Industry Federation (CIF). CIF President […]
19th July 2017

HAP: a growing success story within the private rental sector

March 2017 saw the national roll-out of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme and, according to the Department of Housing’s Tom Gallagher, the new measure is having the desired effect on the ground. “HAP represents a genuine step change in the way housing benefit is made available. In essence, it […]
19th July 2017

Fingal County Council’s strategy on housing is delivering

Chief Executive of Fingal County Council Paul Reid outlines the county’s progress in tackling the housing crisis. Situated within the expanding Greater Dublin Region, with the fastest growing and youngest population in Ireland, Fingal County Council is in the frontline of the current housing crisis. We have been recognised as […]
19th July 2017

CSO publishes breakdown of Census 2016 housing themes

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has published the first thematic report of the Census 2016 results: Profile 1 Housing in Ireland. The results show that a total of 2,003,645 houses and apartments were enumerated in the 2016 Census. Of these 1,697,665 units were occupied by persons usually resident in the […]
19th July 2017

Regulating housing bodies

  The Housing Agency has been given the responsibility, on an interim basis, for regulating Approved Housing Bodies. A Regulation Office has been established to support this work and reports to an interim Regulatory Committee appointed by the Minister. Head of Regulation Susanna Lyons outlines her new role and the […]
19th July 2017

Meeting the social housing need: finance is only part of the solution

There is growing evidence that county and city councils around Ireland are committed to tackling the social housing crisis on their doorsteps. Local councillors are fully aware of just how large the waiting lists for accommodation are in their respective areas. However, councillors also recognise, in equal measure, that there […]
19th July 2017

Respond: Building Communities

After a year of significant change in 2016, Respond! outlines the progress made on social housing delivery and energy efficiency, as well as ambitions for the year ahead. We are privileged to have a new Chairperson in John O’Connor and largely a new Board of Directors, whose experience and acumen […]
19th July 2017

Modular housing represents 
‘new innovation’ as Dublin rises to homelessness challenge

Rapid build, modular homes are now playing a central role in allowing the Government and various Dublin Councils to address the homelessness challenge that continues to confront the capital city. While addressing the immediate homeless situation, the decision to go rapid-build was also taken on the basis that the latest […]
19th July 2017

Threshold: Tenancy protection

John-Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Threshold, outlines the charity’s work in protecting and supporting those in housing need. Threshold is a national housing charity with regional advice centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway, providing frontline advice and support services to people with housing problems across Ireland. Our vision is an […]
19th July 2017

Irish homeowners continue to reduce mortgage debt levels

The most recent Household Credit Market Report from the Central Bank of Ireland finds that Irish households continued to reduce their debt-to-income and debt-to-asset ratios during 2016. However, in relative terms, indebtedness remains high in a European context. The Central Bank also found that the pace of decline in overall […]
19th July 2017

The challenge of housing obsolescence

Dublin Institute of Technology’s Lorcan Sirr believes that the Government does not have an accurate register of all the domestic dwellings that currently exist in Ireland. “Analysis of the 2016 preliminary census results showed anomalies between the level of housing that was built and the actual number of houses added […]
19th July 2017

Understanding the rental sector

It is more important than ever to focus on the actions required to move us along the path to a rental sector that is stable, attractive and secure for both landlords and tenants. The overarching vision of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is to create a well-functioning rental housing sector […]
19th July 2017

Dublin has a dysfunctional housing market

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has recommended the introduction of a Developers’ Tax to free up sites for building in areas of key demand such as Dublin. The release of the National Asset Management Agency’s (NAMA) Annual Report for 2016 outlined that that the organisation had helped deliver […]
19th July 2017

Ó Cualann’s co-operative vision

Hugh Brennan, Ó Cualann CEO, unpacks the housing co-operative’s ambition to ensure its co-operative model for affordable housing can be replicated across Dublin and beyond. Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance CLG (Ó Cualann) is a housing co-operative with Approved Housing Body (AHB) status. A not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, Ó Cualann […]
19th July 2017

Building strong and sustainable communities is important

Margaret Geraghty Director of Housing and Community at Fingal County Council outlines their approach to developing communities and responding to their needs. Having a director responsible for housing and community within a local authority isn’t very common but we have it in Fingal County Council and I believe it is […]
19th July 2017

Plan-led development is the future

Planning specialist Henk van der Kamp believes that the country must have a planning process that delivers for the environment, the economy and every citizen. For this to happen requires the putting in place of very clear, strategic frameworks. Which according to van der Kamp, has not always been the […]
19th July 2017

Social housing funding models

Neil Collins, Director of KPMG Corporate Finance asserts that there is an urgent need for structures that will facilitate institutional investment demands to support the delivery of large-scale social housing market development in Ireland. The Irish Government’s Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Rebuilding Ireland recognises that housing is a […]
19th July 2017

Tackling the homelessness challenge in Dublin

A pilot Focus Ireland campaign, developed to help families who are at risk of homelessness, has confirmed that 90 per cent of participants were still in tenancies three months after the initiative got underway. Underpinning the programme was a comprehensive spread of support measures, provided by Focus Ireland. Focus Ireland […]
19th July 2017

Navigating Financial Risk

The market landscape alongside financial risk management has grown increasingly complex during recent years. Centrus Advisors give an overview of how finance professionals should best steer through these challenges. Treasury and risk management The role of finance is even more critical and diverse. Dealings and exchange of information with both […]
19th July 2017

The emergence of Build to Rent

CBRE Director Tim MacMahon examines the potential of the Build to Rent (BTR) concept for Ireland. Over the last number of years, investors globally have become increasingly interested in ‘alternative’ routes to investment in real estate as they seek to generate better returns and diversify their investment portfolios. Moving away […]
19th July 2017

Measuring liveability

Jon Copestake Chief Retail and Consumer Goods Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit debates what makes a city liveable. What is liveability? “Liveability has come to mean a lot of things to a lot of people over the years, when I started using the term 15 years ago it really […]
19th July 2017

Digital housing

Chief Executive of the UK’s Halton Housing Trust, Nick Atkin, outlines the driving factors behind his organisation’s Digital First strategy and the benefits it brings to both the business and the customer. The assumption that people who live in social housing don’t have access to the internet is a lazy […]
19th July 2017

RTÉ sells part of its Montrose site for housing: the price €107 million

RTÉ has agreed a deal to sell just under nine acres of land at its Donnybrook campus in Dublin to Cairn Homes for €107.5 million. The agreed sale price for the 8.64 acres of land far exceeded the guide price of €75 million, set by estate agents Savills. London-listed Cairn […]
19th July 2017

Designing for mental health

Isoilde Dillon, an architect with the Housing Agency, and Áine O’Reilly, an occupational therapist with the Health Service Executive on the Design for Mental Health plan. It is estimated that one in four people will experience mental health problems at some point during their lives. Mental illness is a broad […]