Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The housing department of Tipperary County Council is progressive and organised and it does a pretty good job in delivering social and affordable housing. However, it must be noted that due to a lack of building over the years and because of changes in policy, we have a problem in Tipperary regarding the availability of social housing. When many people read about housing issues, they think the problem is a city issue and a Dublin issue, but it is not. It is also an issue in rural Ireland. In my constituency of Tipperary, Carrick-on-Suir, for instance, has 353 approved applicants with no houses. Tipperary town, Cahir and Cashel have 862 applicants with no possibility of getting houses in the short term. Clonmel has 662 approved applicants for housing, while Nenagh has 757 and Templemore has 954. Overall, we have a total of 3,588 people living in substandard housing conditions and we are told that 230 houses will be available in the next year, so there is a massive shortfall.

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