Lack of housing in Limerick more concerning than hotel shortage for Ryder Cup – mayor

A lack of housing in Limerick is more of a concern than a potential shortage of hotel rooms for the 2027 Ryder Cup golf tournament, according to the county’s mayor, John Moran.
In office as Ireland’s first directly elected mayor since the end of June, the country’s most powerful local politician will present his 105-page draft five-year mayoral programme to Limerick City and County Council on Friday.
It sets out a series of proposals aimed at making Limerick more “liveable”, “prosperous” and “healthy” and comes as the county’s population is projected to grow by more than 50,000 over the coming years.
One of Mr Moran’s key ideas is the delivery of 1,000 modular homes on State land in Limerick to ease pressure on housing supply while more permanent solutions are being developed.
The Ryder Cup is mentioned in the draft programme as an opportunity to “position Limerick as a premier tourist destination”. More than 300,000 golf fans are expected to come to Ireland to see Europe’s top golfers compete with their US counterparts at Adare Manor in 2027.
During a round-table interview on Thursday, Mr Moran was asked about concerns that Limerick does not have enough hotels to cater for the Ryder Cup and that places like Cork and Killarney might benefit instead.
He said he was not concerned at a potential shortage of hotels for the event and that the real benefit to Limerick would be the employment provided while preparing to host it.
“The thing that concerns me, to be honest, is the lack of housing in Limerick and it’s nothing to do with the Ryder Cup,” he added.
The former Department of Finance secretary general said the county needed 4,000 new homes a year. He said more housing, including his modular homes initiative, could help solve accommodation issues that could arise around the Ryder Cup.
He said these homes could be used by workers and also suggested that student accommodation could be repurposed if the tournament takes place during the third-level summer break.
As part of his programme, Mr Moran wants to see what he has dubbed as “Smart homes” – or short-term modular affordable rental transition homes – delivered in Limerick.
Modular homes have been the subject of controversy after a Comptroller & Auditor General report found that units to accommodate Ukrainian refugees are set to cost more than twice as much to deliver as originally envisaged, some €440,000 each. Small sites and work needed to prepare them for the homes was put forward as reasons for the increased costs.
Mr Moran said his proposal would see the use of land that was already serviced with water connections rather than brownfield sites that would be complicated and “more expensive”.
He said the type of homes he was suggesting were a different build-type and “we’re not going to start spending significant amounts of money unless we have a path to delivery that works and we’ve a good sense of the cost”.
Mr Moran said he had raised the proposal with Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and a working group had been set up with the Department of Housing to examine the idea.
The mayor has set out his work since June in a document entitled 101 Days of Action. He identified setting up the brand new office with a “delivery structure embedded into the way that the council operates” and the development of the mayoral programme in consultation with councillors as significant actions over the past three months.
The most significant power of the office is proposing the local authority’s budget, which he will do in November after his mayoral programme is finalised later this month.
Mr Moran sees another role as putting pressuring on Government Ministers to invest in Limerick, which he estimates will need €2 billion in infrastructure by 2030.