Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As part of the State’s humanitarian response to the Ukrainian crisis, the government has developed a rapid build housing programme to provide accommodation for families fleeing the war in Ukraine. The programme aims to provide short-term accommodation up to 2,800 Ukrainians at several sites across Ireland. While rapid build units will initially be used to temporarily house people fleeing Ukraine, they have the potential to be utilised to address other accommodation challenges, including social housing and student accommodation.

This project – the first of its kind – is an important one as it will provide a blueprint for future developments. As each phase has brought new challenges, these challenges will provide important future learnings. The emphasis in this programme is on delivery of quality homes which will enhance local environments and this has been a priority.

Each site will have roads, footpaths, street lighting, community facilities, including green spaces, fully in line with Local Authority planning guidance. The homes will be highly energy efficient, durable units with a 60 year lifespan and the development of the sites will be conducted in an environmentally sustainable way to ensure that, post development, the site will enhance the local area. Construction disruption is limited as the units are manufactured off site.

Work has been completed on the first seven sites (Mahon Cork, Farnham Road Cavan, Doorly Park Sligo, Thurles Tipperary, Claremorris Mayo, Clonminch Offaly and Rathdowney Laois). Residents have moved into six of the sites with the seventh site being occupied this week. By the end of this week 310 homes with a capacity to house 1240 will have been delivered and occupied. The remaining 390 homes will be delivered in 2024.

The completion timelines are subject to any technical issues arising during construction. There were a number of such issues that arose over the past few months relating to site conditions, remedial works, boundaries, ESB connections, etc. that delayed earlier forecasted dates of completion on sites included in the programme.

It is important to note that the identification of available and suitable sites is against a backdrop of pressure on housing supply. While local authorities, in particular, have some sites in their ownership, many of these are earmarked for future housing development and were not readily available for this programme. Rather, sites which are at an earlier stage of development have been used. This has required significantly more groundworks and services work.