‘We won't build for the craic' - Why Rick Larkin's Twinlite is quitting residential building
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• Why Twinlite is quitting the residential building business
• How Rick Larkin feels about the Irish government's changes to rent controls
• What areas of development Twinlite now plans to focus on
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
'Undercapitalised' developers struggle to scale up house building, TDs to hear
Developers have struggled to scale up housebuilding due to many being 'undercapitalised' since the financial crisis, the Housing Agency will tell TDs today, Tuesday. The Oireachtas housing committee is due to host the Housing Agency and the Land Development Agency during its meeting on Tuesday afternoon, with both due to highlight challenges to housebuilding. In his opening statement, Housing Agency CEO Martin Whelan will tell TDs that ongoing capacity constraints within the construction sector are 'significant barriers to delivery'. These constraints include a shortage of zoned, serviced land as well as the current structure of the Irish development and construction sector, Mr Whelan will say. 'On the private side, few housebuilders outside the largest and institutionally-backed entities have a good pipeline of ready-to-go sites, and even when they acquire land that is zoned and with planning, infrastructure shortcomings and blockages can impede delivery,' Mr Whelan will tell the committee. 'Undercapitalised since financial crisis' On the capacity of the construction sector, Mr Whelan is due to say that most developers have 'remained undercapitalised since the financial crisis'. 'This significantly limits their ability to scale up development activity, with many operating on a project-by-project basis rather than on a programme of concurrent development projects,' Mr Whelan will say. 'On the construction side, where we appear to be at, or close to, full capacity, the challenge is one of productivity — how can the industry do more with existing resources?' In particular, Mr Whelan will cite the need to further adopt the use of modern methods of construction. The Housing Agency chief is also due to call for an increase in the number of staff in local authorities and approved housing bodies to deal with the rise in the number of social homes. This is to support 'good estate management and tenant services', Mr Whelan will say. CEO John Coleman is expected to tell the Oireachtas housing committee about challenges facing the Land Development Agency, including a lack of zoned, serviced land, the cost of delivering apartments, and legal challenges to planning permissions. Picture: Mike Shaughnessy He will tell TDs the Housing Agency has been working with an 'industry consortium' to develop a social and affordable housing apprenticeship, which aims to address the skill shortage in the area. It is expected apprentices will begin enrolling next year, he will add. On capital investments, Mr Whelan will tell TDs and senators that to reach 50,000 houses a year, there will need to be approximately €20.4bn worth of finance allocated to housing, of which €8.2bn must be equity. More apartments needed In particular, he will say this requires more apartments to be built, which require more equity to be provided. He will cite research from the Central Bank, which says equity finance fell from an average of €2.5bn in 2021 and 2022, compared with €450m in 2023 and 2024. 'The availability of this type of equity financing is particularly important for meeting supply targets for residential development over the medium term,' he will say. The CEO of the Land Development Agency (LDA), John Coleman, is expected to tell the committee there are a number of challenges facing the agency, including a lack of availability of zoned, serviced land, the cost of delivering apartments, and legal challenges to planning permissions. He will also highlight 'a lack of investment in the rental sector', as well as viability challenges to unlocking brownfield sites for development due to remediations costs associated.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
'Ireland needs radical action to end its infrastructure crisis'
The Government must accept that there is a 'national crisis in Irish infrastructure', according to a member of a taskforce charged with improving Ireland's project delivery. ESRI chairman Sean O'Driscoll warned of 'catastrophic consequences' facing Ireland's water, energy, and transport networks if 'radical and brave decisions are not taken to ensure projects get completed quicker'. He claimed public servants are more 'scared' of the public accounts committee than of the economy declining. He said: That has resulted in paralysis and risk aversion in the system. The bold decisions that are required aren't being taken, they're being avoided and they have been for 10 years. Mr O'Driscoll was one of 12 people appointed in May to an 'accelerating infrastructure' taskforce, chaired by public expenditure minister Jack Chambers. CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB In an interview with the Irish Examiner, he calls for 'urgent, impactful, radical and immediate actions' including: Addressing judicial reviews and planning delays. He said the bar for judicial reviews is 'far too low' and the Government must go further than its newly-published Planning Act to tackle crises in energy and water; Extend Part 8 planning permissions enjoyed by local councils, which allows them to develop on land independently of An Bord Pleanála to ensure critical infrastructure projects get built; Tell the EU that Ireland has an 'infrastructure emergency' to overcome regulation red tape; Secure multi-year funding for utilities and major projects and urge co-operation between local authorities and utility providers. The infrastructure taskforce was launched in May and is in the middle of a public consultation. It is expected to issue up to 50 recommendations to the Government within months to help speed up delivery. Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson warned last month that Dublin is facing serious water supply and wastewater capacity challenges. The stark warning, coupled with fears of power outages in recent years, are evidence of the potentially 'catastrophic' effect of failing to get Ireland's infrastructure improved, Mr O'Driscoll warned. He pointed to a gas pipeline connecting Cork and Dublin being built more than 40 years ago, compared with the time taken to get a planned 170km pipeline to bring water from the River Shannon to Dublin approved, as an example of the need to overhaul decision-making in the sector. Dublin will have a water crisis within five years for the houses it has planned. Are we saying we can't build a water system for the capital city of the country today? We need radical thinking. 'Why wouldn't you [extend Part 8 planning laws] for large infrastructure projects of national significance? Extend that to private land. If the Shannon water project isn't an emergency, I don't know what is.' 'Infrastructure paralysis' He said public expenditure minister Jack Chambers recently said infrastructure delivery is in 'paralysis'. 'In medical terms, that means an emergency. "The art of politics is compromise. Politicians like to avoid taking tough decisions. But if we're going to crack infrastructure, hard decisions are going to have to be taken, and this will have to be treated as a national emergency. We admit it is one and then we treat it as such.' On whether the EU could frustrate Irish attempts to overhaul planning, the former Glen Dimplex chairman pointed to Germany's attempts to substitute LNG imports and other infrastructure to reduce its dependence on Russian-imported gas as an example of EU hurdles being overcome in emergency times. He said: There is no point hiding behind Europe. I hear people saying 'there's an EU directive' and 'we can't do this'... I don't buy that anymore. "We all have an onus to say not all regulation is good and we need to say 'we have an emergency' to Brussels.' Asked about Ireland's climate change targets, he insisted that development should be compatible with those targets, pointing to vast improvements required in the building of renewable energy projects. Taoiseach Micheál Martin should become centrally involved in the task force's work, Mr O'Driscoll added, as former Taoiseach Enda Kenny had in the successful 2012 action plan for jobs, after the financial crash. He said the warning signs are there, and that the utilitiies are all talking about it: 'The government of the day don't want to hear public bodies saying this, but they need to hear it. When the lights go out, or the water isn't available, they'll say: 'Why didn't anyone shout about this?''
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Notable rise in US people seeking jobs in Ireland
Hiring platform Indeed has recorded a notable increase in the number of people based in the US showing interest in jobs in Ireland. According to data, Indeed said between January and April, overseas searches for Irish jobs accounted for 12.3% of all searches for Irish roles during the month. Job seekers in the UK are most interested in Irish-based roles, accounting for 22.3% of total overseas searches. However, the US accounted for the biggest increase in overseas interest in Irish jobs, with a share of 9.5%, up 2.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. This was far ahead of other countries, with the next biggest increase coming from Germany, which recorded an increase of 0.6 percentage points, to a share of 2.9%. India, Spain, and France also featured in the top five, accounting for 7.1%, 5.1%, and 3.6% respectively. The data also shows the food, admin and sales sectors were the top three job categories searched by overseas jobseekers. Jobs in the food sector accounted for 12.2% of all overseas searches, while the figure for admin roles was 9.97% and sales was 9.89%. The figures also show the share of outbound searches from job seekers in Ireland has been following a downward trend, from just over 10% in December 2023 to 6.9% in April 2025. Read More Paschal Donohoe warns of uncertain economic outlook as 'mood-music is changing'
