Lofty Kilkenny housing targets amid perceived 'imbalance of development'

A lofty new housing delivery target of 948 homes per year up to 2034 has been revealed by Kilkenny County Council in a bid to keep the county in line with the national targets outlined by the government as part of the recently revised National Planning Framework.

These new targets were revealed and explained to elected members during this week’s local authority plenary meeting by Acting Director of Services, Denis Malone.

Central to achieving this target will be the rezoning of strategic zoned lands, particularly in Kilkenny City.

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Also of huge significance will be incorporating the new housing requirements into relevant development plans for strategic towns across the county.

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh, raised concerns about the ‘smaller parishes’ across the county.

She expressed discontent in relation to perceived growth of Kilkenny City relative to smaller areas that ‘don’t have water [infrastructure]’.

Cllr Pat Dunphy was amongst those to agree and point out the role of Irish Water (since rebranded as Uisce Éireann) in the delivery of these new housing targets.

“Implementation is the key to all this,” he said, “we need a plan for implementation.”

Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick emphasised the need to both ‘zone more land’ and the need for ‘utility companies to line up’.

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Cllr Seán Ó hArgáin queried whether community and retail facilities have been factored into the new housing targets.
“As a parent, this is really urgent,” he said. “My children, adult children, my grandchild, are part of a generation being left aside while we’re not delivering on a national level.”

Cllr Maria Dollard criticised the lack of urgency from ‘state organisations who sit on large banks’ to develop them and also asked about how local vacant and derelict properties could be factored into the targets.

Cllr Eugene McGuinness stated that achieving the new targets is ‘infrastructure dependent’ and added that Irish Water are ‘simply not doing it’.

Responding, Mr Malone stated that the recently announced proposal whereby Irish Water would have to assume responsibility of EPA compliant private-led water infrastructure would assist.

Mr Malone also stated that ‘activity is happening’ around the issue of derelict sites, and that activity ‘has been ramped up in the last year’.

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Cllr Michael Doyle and Cllr Tomás Breathnach subsequently raised their own concerns about a potential ‘imbalance of development’ due to infrastructural constraints.

Cllr John Brennan cited a ‘disconnect in terms of rural development’.

“A lot of villages need an upgrade in sewerage services,” he said.

Cllr David Fitzgerald welcomed the facts that small towns and villages can proceed with developer-led infrastructure, describing it as a ‘huge step forward’ but raised concerns about land for healthcare provision.

“St Luke’s Campus is rapidly reaching capacity,” he said. “Are you looking at lands outside the strategic reserve?”

Cllr Deirdre Cullen cited the key role of one-off rural housing on family-owned land in her contribution and ‘the absence of clear national guidelines on same’.

In relation to private-led water infrastructure, Mr Malone stated that ‘the devil will be in the detail’, and on what’s in the regulations.

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Cllr Jenny Catt Slattery stated that in Mullinavat 'the population is on the decrease’ whilst also still being ‘way down the line (on the Irish Water priority list)’.

Many councillors raised the HSE Lacken Site in Kilkenny City as a potential site for housing delivery, and posed queries in relation to its future.

Mr Malone stated that the local authority is awaiting final correspondence from the HSE and is anticipating the publication of a draft site masterplan in early 2026.

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