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RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
3 crucial issues facing the Government on housing
In a week when the minister responsible for housing admitted that meeting the Government's own target for the delivery of new housing this year would be "extremely challenging", RTÉ's Economics and Public Affairs Editor David Murphy examines three key issues that must be addressed if progress is to be made. The Government is facing the most significant decision during its tenure on housing - what to do about rent caps. The limits on how much landlords can charge are blamed by some in the industry for a downturn in home building last year, although they protect thousands of financially stretched tenants in an already expensive market. The current Rent Pressure Zones were introduced as a temporary step in 2016 and continuously extended. In 2021 they were tightened, reducing the maximum increase from 4% to 2% and making them some of the most restrictive in the world. The current rent caps expire at the end of this year, and the Government has to decide if it plans to retain them, alter them or abandon them altogether. Last month the Minister for Housing James Browne received a report from the Housing Agency which looked at options on the issue for the Government. The report highlighted significant problems with retaining the existing 2% cap and looked at alternatives including moving to a higher limit. Another option, suggested by Paris-based think tank the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is allowing to landlords freely adjust rents when tenants move out. But the downside is that it could act as a financial incentive for property owners to evict tenants. The feeling in government circles is that any change is going to require a lot of work to make it clear to the public why an adjustment to the rent caps is being planned. That would likely see ministers preparing the ground by explaining the drawbacks with the existing restrictions, which are partly blamed by the industry for a 24% fall in apartment construction last year. Obviously fewer new homes leads to higher rents at a time when the population is growing, the economy is expanding and there are plenty of jobs. It is important to note that the cycle of higher interest rates, now being reduced, made some building projects unviable for investors over recent years and that too was a factor in the fall in house building last year. Many observers across the political spectrum and housing sector believe the Government will have an exceptionally tough decision to make on rent caps and will face vocal opposition. Sources within the Coalition say that high level talks are continuing and a decision is possible in the coming weeks. Completions During the General Election last year, the Government controversially misled the public over how many houses would be built in 2024. A number of figures, including then Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien said about 40,000 would be completed last year. When the final figures were published only 30,000 were built. This year the Government has a target of 41,000 homes. The Economic and Social Research Institute forecasts it will fall short, and that 34,000 will be completed in 2025. This week, Minister Browne admitted meeting the Government's target would be "extremely challenging". He added there were "different numbers out there and they are all trending to the ESRI's number". But the Government's own target of 41,000 is far short of the approximately 50,000 or 60,000 homes other experts, including the Central Bank and the Housing Commission, say are needed to address the existing shortfall and future needs. This week, Minister Browne said the State is now involved in supporting about 50% of the housing output. He argues that if completions are to increase "we have to activate the private sector". That means getting more private investor involvement - which explains why the Government is reviewing the rental caps. Water connections Homes can't be finished without connections to water and wastewater networks. Late last year, Irish Water/Uisce Éireann said it could only connect 35,000 properties a year over the next five years. The utility has become notably vocal about key issues which it feels are hampering urgently needed improvements and expansions of the water network. At the Oireachtas Committee on Infrastructure this week, Uisce Éireann CEO Niall Gleeson forecast it would spend €10.3bn on capital projects between 2025 and 2029. But he said the organisation required a further €2bn to achieve the Government's objective of building 300,000 homes over the next five years. He also criticised the existing funding model and said providing additional money annually creates uncertainty. He suggested multiannual funding to help deliver long-term projects. The Department of Housing says Uisce Éireann's request for an additional €2bn is being considered in the context of the revised National Development Plan which is expected to be published in July. Mr Gleeson also highlighted issues with the planning system and said some complex projects are taking more than a decade to get the green light. He called for reform of legislation to tackle the issue. The Government continually repeats that dealing with the housing crisis is the number one issue for this administration, but it has a lot to do before it can convince observers that significant progress is being made.
Irish Examiner
12-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Irish builders increase output in April despite concerns over US trade policies
Construction activity in Ireland grew again last month but at a slower pace as companies responded to sustained new order growth. The AIB Construction PMI also shows employment and purchasing activity increased last month, while companies remained optimistic regarding the year-ahead outlook, despite some worries regarding the impacts of US trade policy. The index posted 52.4 in April, down from 53.9 in March but still above the 50.0 no-change mark and signalling a second consecutive month of growth in Irish construction activity. According to the survey, the companies that saw activity increase linked this to improving customer demand and an associated increase in new orders. The rise in construction activity was broad across the three categories, residential, commercial and civil. The fastest increase was in commercial activity, which expanded for the third month running and at a solid pace. The slowest increase in activity was on housing projects, but growth has now been sustained in the residential category for eight months running. AIB chief economist David Murphy said the improved demand conditions were reflected in new orders expanding for a third straight month. This backdrop of new projects saw firms continue to increase their staffing levels. Indeed, the pace of employment growth accelerated in April. "Construction sector firms retained an optimistic view on the prospect of increasing activity levels over the coming 12 months. "However, some firms did reference the potential drag on activity levels from US trade policy as being a source of concern," Mr Murphy said. On the price front, firms recorded a further sharp rise in their input costs during April. Improving demand for materials often resulted in suppliers hiking their prices in April, with the rate of input cost inflation remaining sharp and above the series average during the month. Subcontractor rates also increased rapidly, and at the fastest pace for a year
Irish Examiner
12-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Paula Hynes: From AI to DIY - It's all go on the farm in Aherla
The weather is simply glorious, but the drop of rain in the forecast has been welcome. We held off on spreading fertiliser until we were assured rain and that was down to lessons learned during the summer drought in 2018. The advice at the time during the drought was to continue to spread fertiliser but with multiple rounds of N spread before we saw rain, grass took a nitrogen surge and we lost a cow to bloat. The sunshine and heat suits clover swards so they are less affected by the dry weather. We haven't cut any silage yet for the simple reason that we had never planned to cut this early and regardless of the weather conditions being ideal for harvesting, the silage swards are still too high in N so we are keeping an eye on the forecast and hoping for a weather window close to the last week of May. The main focus on the farm at the moment is breeding season with the main herd being bred, we are lucky to have a fantastic AI technician called David Murphy, he has been a huge part of the team here and always gets fantastic conception rates, and more importantly gives us great feed back on how the cows' heats are. It really is a team effort getting cows in calf; the technician can only get results if the cow is in good BCS and presented for AI at the right time, and likewise, the technician's attention to detail is also crucial. We fitted Datamars health and heat detection collars two years ago and they truly have been superb. We knew the system was very accurate and also had the extra confidence that Semex were promoting the system around the world. We don't tail paint cows anymore which saves a lot of time during milking. We keep an eye on the cows as they leave the paddock to ensure heats we visually see are also picked up by the Datamars system. What we do notice now is that the system picks up silent heats which we possibly would not have seen. The data available to us on the Datamars app is superb; we can automatically see when the cow calved, when her last heat was or her last AI. It also tells us when the heat for the cow began, when the optimum time for AI is and when the heat will finish; with this information we can decide if a cow will be served in the AM or PM. Generally, we try to serve cows which are selected for sexed semen as late in the heat as possible, but if a cow is being served with beef semen we can be more flexible with the time of service, so if possible we may serve earlier or later to reduce the daily visits for the technician. We will stop using sexed semen soon so we will return to once a day AI and we will continue to serve with beef semen until week 10 of breeding. We don't use stock bulls anymore as conception rates are higher to AI and we never have to worry about the fertility of stock bulls. I guess there is also the safety aspect of it that with no stock bulls with the dairy herd anyone can bring the cows in for milking. The Datamars collars also give us great information on the health of individual cows, if a cow is off form we will get a health alert and we can automatically look at the data on the cow's rumination, standing time, resting, lying down and feeding time. If we need veterinary intervention for the cow, we can give this information to the vet and rule out problems quicker. The system really is like having a pair of eyes and ears with the cows 24 hours a day and while systems like this are costly, we save a lot of time and routine costs. Also with the benefit of having more cows in calf and calving earlier, it means the herd is more efficient and more profitable. The list of cows which have not been served has really narrowed down, not every cow has a 21-day cycle and we also take into consideration how late a cow has calved, but we will PG a few cows this week to bring on their heat and give them the best chance of going in calf again. The farm always requires some routine maintenance, and the summer months are a chance to tackle some of these jobs, for those who know our farm, we have a long tarmac driveway and it has been riddled with potholes. Pete claimed that while some places had speed ramps, we merely had speed holes. Well, the speed holes are no more, which must come as a huge celebration for the postman and the milk lorry driver as we got a load of hot tarmac this week and tackled the repair job. Next on the maintenance list is a building project which has also begun and hopefully once complete will make life a lot easier for us. It is something we are taking our time with as we will most likely modify it as we are making progress and as it begins to take shape I will write a more detailed piece on it. The summer always flies by and I always think it is better tackling these jobs earlier rather than rushing around in the autumn. While we may seem extremely organised, to be fair the current farm maintenance list is probably the 2024 list which never happened and has been slightly updated since and we did need to allow Pete a little time to realise that his speed pothole concept was never going to become popular with visitors. There is also a little fencing that needs upgrading in fields which are closed for silage, so once first-cut silage is complete we will tackle that rather than rushing around repairing it in the autumn when we need to graze after grass after second cut silage. As the list of maintenance jobs grows, so too does the visitor list which will make farm and home busy for the next couple of months. Read More
