Budget 2025 will not deliver the housing we need in Limerick – Sheehan
Limerick Labour General Election candidate Cllr Conor Sheehan has slammed Budget 2025 for failing to deliver the housing we need in Limerick.
Cllr Sheehan said:
“Never in the history of the State has there been so much good money thrown after bad. As a young person, struggling with housing, struggling with accessing healthcare and struggling to build a life of my own, I see this Budget as a failure to do anything to encourage our young people back to Ireland.
“Take the measures proposed when it comes to housing. The average monthly rent in Limerick City is now €2,197 per month. The rent credit of €1,000 won’t even cover half a months’ rent. It will do nothing to protect renters who are fearful of further hikes or indeed those in the private rental sector who are petrified of receiving an eviction notice.
“We know from Census 2022 that more than 440,000 young people continue to live with their parents – up 13% since the 2016 Census when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael first entered a governing agreement.
“It’s simply shocking that the Budget did not see the increase of targets for the delivery of homes when we know that supply is the issue.
“This is particularly stark in Limerick where we are two years into the development plan. We have 3,038 residential units granted planning permission across Limerick during the first two years of the development plan, with only 1,632 dwellings completed across Limerick city and county in the first two years, leaving a deficit of three and a half thousand houses not built under Housing for All. Where is the sense of urgency?
“Too many young people have lost all hope of ever owning their own home. The Government’s housing policy is failing an entire generation and yesterday’s Budget will do nothing to entice those young people who have already left the State to come home.
“Labour has a clear plan for building better, together. We would introduce stronger protections for renters and invest in building the public housing we so desperately need. Our plan is about building homes that people can afford, homes for families, for young people, and for the future.
“We want to say to young people, come home, there is a future for you here. Under this conservative coalition, we will continue to lose more and more of our young, talented people to Australia and beyond.”