FINE Gael councillor Dan McSweeney has claimed there are no confirmed affordable purchase housing units in the pipeline for delivery during 2025 for Limerick City and its environs.
This information, he told the Limerick Post, came to his attention following a question he asked of the local authority in May, which revealed there are just 18 affordable purchase homes expected to be delivered across the entire county – only six of which will be in the city – during 2025.
A further update, Cllr McSweeney revealed, has been provided to elected members of Limerick City and County Council that the proposed six units under the Affordable Purchase Scheme are now not progressing, with negotiations to occur to secure other units.
This update, the City West representative hit out, leaves the city and suburbs with the potential of not delivering a single affordable purchase housing unit during 2025.
“In May, I was extremely disappointed to learn that only 18 affordable purchase homes are set to be delivered in 2025 across the city and county — a figure well below what other comparable local authorities are aiming to deliver this year,” Cllr McSweeney said.
“Since the introduction of the Affordable Purchase Scheme in 2022, Limerick City and County Council has delivered just 62 affordable purchase units. In contrast, Waterford has delivered 179 units up to the end of 2024. When we look at this comparison, it’s clear that Limerick’s delivery performance has been extremely poor.”
Given that this was a new national scheme introduced in 2022, Cllr McSweeney took the view that the local authority should now be entering a “ramp-up phase” in delivery.
“That is not what we are seeing on the ground,” he suggested. “This is deeply disappointing, not just for me, but more importantly for the many families across our city and county who continue to struggle to access affordable home ownership.”
In response to Cllr McSweeney’s claims, the Council told the Limerick Post that its affordable housing team is working hard to maximise all options for affordable tenure, suggesting that Limerick is delivering across multiple delivery streams with momentum clearly building.
The Council says it will directly deliver 31 affordable purchase homes in 2025, of which 10 are earmarked for the city through the Affordable Housing Fund.
The First Home Scheme, which delivered 96 shared-equity affordable purchases in Limerick in 2024, also sees a further 29 agreements already entered into in Q1 2025.
According to the Council, the current trajectory indicates that 2025 will exceed 2024 figures with over 100 affordable sales, reflecting strong ongoing demand and delivery of affordable purchase options in Limerick City.
“Limerick’s affordable housing projected pipeline from 2026 stands at 1,418 units as of 8th August 2025: 980 affordable purchase units, 438 cost rental units,” the Council revealed.
“The projected pipeline grows month on month and it is important to note that affordable housing delivery is subject to timely government subsidy approvals, which may affect site start and completion timescales.
“The funding of affordable housing operates within a finite national budget each year (i.e., €45 million for 2025). Therefore, there will be significant competing demands from other local authorities across the country, which can impact the timing and volume of approvals for individual councils,” the Council concluded.
