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Dundalk Leader 6th May 2026
“FOUNDATIONS IN PLACE TO MEET HOUSING TARGETS”- GER MURPHY cupants are over 55s. There are all social housing tenants and that is an example of Rightsizing where they are now living in a one or two bedroom apartment rather than a bigger house which is no longer really suitable for their needs.
By Paul Byrne GER Murphy is Director of Housing and Culture Delivery in Louth County Council, and is responsible for the organisation and delivery of Housing Accommodation, the Arts, Museum and Archive Services. He returned to Louth County Council in September 2023 having previously worked with the Local Authority early on in his career. He has also worked with Meath County Council for seventeen years, Kildare County Council for a year, and a brief spell working in the Civil Service before returning home three years ago. Originally from Carlingford, Ger says that when he took over the Housing remit for Louth in 2023 the Local Authority where in year two of the Government’s Housing For All Plan (20222226) a lot of the foundations had been put in place by his predecessors and the previous Chief Executive to help his office achieve targets which had been set out in that plan. “We have thankfully been able to deliver on the targets set out in the Government’s Housing For All Plan and last year we met our overall County target of just over 1300 units by November last year. We are on track now by the end of this year to exceed our targets by 800 units. The original target for this year was 1323 social units and we are on course to deliver just over 2100 units by the end of this year. And those builds are a combination of our own County Council builds, working with Approved Housing Bodies to deliver social units, acquisitions, Part V acquisitions etc.
Ger Murphy is Director of Housing and Culture Delivery in Louth County Council. and every year we will do a summary of social housing assessment to see what our own need is local. We have a good sense of what that demand is and what the targets will be over the next five years and what is clear is we are going to have to increase our delivery of houses year on year until 2030. We have to deliver as many new units, be that affordable, social or cost rental as we can throughout the county where that need is needed most. “As a Local Authority we are here to deliver the Government’s National Plan and basically any of the social units you see being built are paid for by government. They are paid for by what is called the Social Housing Investment Programme. We work very closely with the Department of Housing and Minister James Brown and his Department as well as various other housing bodies. They give us the funding and the policy and it’s up to us to deliver what they are asking for. Our role is to try and get the best value for money in terms of what we can deliver which isn’t always easy especially in the current environment with rising costs because of various factors. The recent fuel crisis for example was another challenge for us but it’s a challenge we have to face and do the best we can with.
“It’s important we meet those targets and to do that it’s a bit like building a house. You have to have the foundations in place and the plans in place to be able to deliver because it takes a good bit of time to do that. Where we are at now is we are working with the brand new Government Housing Plan which is a five year plan (2025-2030). So we have a whole set of new targets to meet and it’s up to us now as a Local authority to plan ahead and en“While we have exceeded sure we are able to meet those targets in previous years it isn’t targets year on year,” explained going to be easy to keep on doGer. ing that over the next number “We have to look at predicted of years as these growing chalpopulation growth, predicted lenges mount. It’s a joint effort housing demand, we have to between ourselves, government, work closely with the planners contractors, developers and
housing bodies etc.
and thankfully there are a lot less now than there were in the past. Our role in that is to encourage owners of Derelict Sites to bring them up to standard and make use of the sites and there will be a new Derelict Sites Tax which will be coming in which will hopefully encourage the owners of these derelict houses to bring them back into use.
“When looking for sites the idea situation is a number of greenfield sits because that keeps the costs viable whereas if it’s a brownfield site or redevelopment site that obviously is going to add to the costs. That’s not to say we don’t work on brownfield sites or redevelopment sites as there are sites that are well worth redeveloping especially if “We also offer what is called you are looking to re-generate a the Vacant Property Refurbishparticular area. ment Grant which is working “For instance we have a de- quite well and that offers owners velopment we are hoping to supports to bring any derelict commence shortly on Anne St. property back into use for resiwhich is an old derelict site that dential purposes. We have issued we are redeveloping into a num- about 350 of these grants over ber of social apartments. That’s the last couple of years. We have an example where housing can our own specialised team who add to the area and regenerate look at vacant and derelict housan area and it is worth the extra es throughout the county and we cost. But as I said ideally you will have the option as well to CPO build on Greenfield sites and properties and sell them back that’s what we are doing at the to the market. There is a good minute. We have six directable bit of work going on behind the delivery sites which are develop- scenes with that from the Vacant ments we are building ourselves Homes Officer and the Planning including one in Mount Avenue team in terms of derelict sites. which has 97 units and which we There is a timeframe for landwill be opening phase 1 shortly. lords before they are subjected to We have three in Drogheda, a levy and potentially CPO but one in Louth Village and one in ideally the landlord will cooperDunleer which are all being built ate and bring it back into use. at the moment and will provide RIGHTSIZING housing across the County,” ex“We are in the early stages plained Ger. of working on our Rightsizing “Ideally now what we would strategy which is the updated like to have and what we are term for Downsizing which looking at is to acquire other maybe came with negative consites which would be of interest notation. Particularly in terms of to us in terms of developing. Age Friendly Schemes like ConDERELICT SITE NOTICES nolly’s Field development which We do have a number of Der- was recently completed there elict Site Notices around Louth at Hill St Bridge where all oc-
“We would often work with tenants and transfer them when their children have moved out and they are looking for somewhere smaller. It’s something we have to be very sensitive to as well. It can be an emotive thing where somebody can be living in their family home their whole life whether that’s a council house, social house or their own private house. A house is more than just bricks and mortar and can people may have a very strong attachment to their home so we have to be very sensitive when we are asking people to Rightsize. AFFORDABLE HOUSING “The Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme helps people on moderate incomes to buy new homes at reduced prices. The local authority takes a percentage stake in your home that covers the reduction in price. So, if you buy the home at a 20% discount, the local authority has a 20% stake in your home.
challenging for us as we know the cost of new houses is rising considerably so we are doing our best to work with developers and work within our own schemes to try and keep the costs down as much as possible. “We’re proud to say that outside of the Dublin authorities we were one of the best Local Authorities in the country last year in terms of delivering Social Housing. But I would temper that by saying that was last year and we face new challenges now and we can’t look back and dwell on past successes. MAINTENANCE TEAM We have our own outdoor crew who are absolutely excellent and we have electricians and carpenters and plumbers on our staff. We have a small team but a very effective team. We also have engineers and technicians as well who are part of that maintenance team and they will assess what needs to be done to bring the house up to the necessary standards. To date this year we have received 3656 maintenance queries and that can be electrical issues, heating issues etc. We have to deal with that as best we can as everybody is entitled to proper living standards. We do have some quite old stock which does become an issue over time and we have to spend more to keep that stock maintained to the required standard.
“You must buy back the local authority’s stake after 40 years or if you sell your home, but you can repay it any time before this. This scheme is aimed at first“We do energy retrofits to time buyers and certain other existing council properties. We applicants, known as ‘fresh start’ bring them up to a B2 standard applicants. rating. That could involve insuOur Affordable Housing Plan lating the walls or maybe changas part of the Governments ing it to an air to water heating Housing Plan will be where system. That will help bring we would offer out a number their bills down and give them a of houses at 20% less than the more comfortable space. market rate. We have a number of schemes throughout the County where we have delivered schemes like this. It was a bit of a slow-burner there for a couple of years but thankfully we have a bit of momentum behind us now and that will see more units being offered at these affordable prices. We have seen great success with this in Drogheda already and we are hoping the same can happen in Dundalk next. I am hoping to roll out a number of Affordable Housing Schemes in Dundalk over the next year. “Basically what Affordable Housing is is where a person within a certain income criteria (€80,000 per year household earnings) can get a house at 20% less than the market value. It is
JOB SATISFACTION
The one thing I always remind myself and part of the reason why I love working in a Local authority and why I’ve worked in it pretty much all of my career is because you get to work either in your own community or a community just like it. You get to see the fruits of your labour. We will be shortly hand out keys to tenants for the new development we have completed in Mount Avenue. To see the difference that makes to their lives and the happiest it brings them it does make it all worthwhile. There is a lot of pressure and challenges but that’s the job satisfaction and I do enjoy that element of us and you have to take these little moments when you get them,” laughs Ger.
Ancillary report funded by Coimisiún na Meán’s Local Democracy Reporting Scheme