Planning changes mean modular homes can be built more quickly, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that planning changes will mean that modular houses can be built much more quickly to accommodate refugees and those in need of social housing, though he admitted that the numbers of housing units possible was not yet clear.

Mr Varadkar was speaking to journalists during a pre-Christmas media briefing at Government Buildings on Friday.

“We’re in the middle of a very serious housing crisis, a very big and serious housing emergency,” he said. “I know that some people won’t like the planning reforms that we’re making but I think they are necessary, and that will allow local authorities to build social housing and indeed other forms of public housing on public lands without having to go through the planning process.

“That will save months and means that we’ll be able to provide new houses, particularly rapid-build houses, much quicker and that is the intention.”

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Mr Varadkar was asked if a large volume of modular housing units, perhaps 5,000 to10,000, could be built

“I don’t have an exact figure as to what can be achieved next year,” he said. “I have spoken to the Minister Patrick O’Donovan, I spoke to the head of the OPW himself only yesterday about it. I’ve asked them to come back to me with how much could be done next year and how much could be done the year after in terms of rapid-build homes.

“It’s not just a case of building homes off-site, which is one part of it. The second part is having the sites and having those sites serviced. So before I put a figure on it I want to be able to give you a figure that I can stand over. But the question I’ve asked them is how many can you do? When they tell me how many they can do, I’ll say: ‘Let’s make that happen.’”