Richard O'Donoghue: LDA 'Hasn't Built One House' in Limerick
Richard O'Donoghue criticises the Land Development Agency and current planning approaches, arguing that infrastructure must come before housing and that local councillors should regain decision-making powers. He says the LDA has not built any houses in Limerick, that procurement has driven up costs for modular housing, and that planning and services shortages block new homes.
Infrastructure first
Richard O'Donoghue stresses that houses cannot be built without basic services - water, sewerage, electricity and internet. He highlights that the LDA hasn't built a single house in Limerick and notes the agency's public position that it will not invest more than 15 minutes outside any city, a rule he says excludes two-thirds of Limerick County.
Local powers and planning laws
He recounts his time as a councillor with Limerick City and County Council and says powers have been stripped from local representatives. O'Donoghue argues local councillors are on the front line and should regain authority to make planning decisions for both county and city areas to enable sustainable village and county development.
Sewerage capacity and building limits
Describing visits to building sites, he says he asked the minister to check remaining capacity on sewerage and water systems and was told repeatedly that capacity was zero. O'Donoghue uses this to question how more houses can be delivered without investing in the underlying infrastructure across the country.
Modular housing procurement and accountability
He criticises agency-led procurement of modular housing, saying government returns showed modular units bought through an agency cost twice what direct purchase would have cost and that the agency made 100% profit. He calls for greater accountability so funding goes further and delivers better value.
Calls for nationwide investment
O'Donoghue says government promises to exceed housing targets were not met and warns against giving agencies more power without addressing fundamentals. He urges investment in infrastructure across the country so people can live in both city and county locations and so new housing can be delivered sustainably.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you. As for somebody in this house that's in construction all my life and have been here for the last five years telling people, you can't build houses without infrastructure. You can't build a house without having water or sewerage. You need electricity as well. You need an internet service. The LDA hasn't built one house in Limerick. Not one. The LDA was set up and have publicly stated that they will not invest on 15 minutes outside any city. That takes out two-thirds of Limerick County. That's what the LDA have set up to do. I was a councillor in Limerick City and County Council. A lot of the things that we had to do, the powers that we had, were stripped away from us and we are the people on the front line trying to deliver for our communities that have first-hand information on what is needed in the area that elects you. That's what's been stripped away. It's the local councillors that need to get back the powers to make the decisions for the county as well as for the whole county, which includes the cities. And we build together. Daryl Bryan, when he was minister, came to Limerick and travelled around the county announcing houses here and announcing houses there that were being finished. And on every site I went to him with other representatives, I asked him to ask the people that were there, the developers, the builders that were there, how much more capacity is left on the sewerage systems and the water systems. And everyone of them came back and said, zero. So how do we build houses for Ireland? Not just in one place, but for Ireland. We invest in infrastructure for the country. Everyone should be entitled to live, whether you want to live in the city or the county. Our planning laws, which have been stripped away again for the intervention from councillors, stops people from living in the county. It stops the investment into our villages, where people can become sustainable, business can be sustainable, if they get the proper infrastructure, sewerage, water, to start with. That's what's needed in this country to deliver houses. We all know that the government made promises that they were going to exceed the housing. They didn't do it. Now they want agencies to get more power so they can build houses. Again, it comes back to the basics. Where do you want to build the houses? Are you forgetting about the rest of the people in Ireland that are also entitled to have a place to live? No matter where you're from in Ireland, you should be entitled to have a place to live. The planning laws need to change that if a city, even in a county, is big enough that a person that wants to downsize and let their own family move in, the next generation move in, and they want to build a smaller house on the same site to allow for the next generation, that should be allowed. That's not allowed under the planning laws. That's why we have houses being put up everywhere. We also have, when we had Ukrainians come here, there was an awful lot of investment put into modular housing. That was given to an agency to provide these modular houses. When the funding came back from government to show that the houses, the modular houses, cost twice the price that you can deal directly with the modular companies, because you'd go through an agency that made 100% profit on the modular house. That's what's wrong. Accountability. Let the money go further and get value for the money that we have. And invest in infrastructure in this country, not just on one place.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
