Serious staff shortages in the planning and engineering areas of local authorities are adding to difficulties in meeting housing demands, the Dublin city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, warned yesterday.
He described staff shortages as "pretty bad" and said if six staff could be recruited one week, six more would be headhunted by the private sector the following week.
Mr Fitzgerald was speaking at an Irish Home Builders' Association conference at Plan Expo in Dublin.
He said despite staffing problems no large housing developments were suffering planning hold-ups in the greater Dublin area. However, delays were often caused by poor applications.
"The standard of applications from developers is less good than it has been in the past."
Mr Fitzgerald said this was because professional expertise in the building industry was also stretched to capacity.
He pointed out that the population of the greater Dublin area was estimated to reach 1.75 million by 2011 but could go as high as two million. "It is now the fastest-growing city region in Europe. That is a fact."
Some 62,000 houses are now in the planning or construction stage in the Dublin area.
Emphasising the need for more private/public partnerships, Mr Fitzgerald said Dublin Corporation would soon be advertising for two partners for two private/ public partnerships in Cherry Orchard. The two sites would produce 1,000 houses, made up of 20 per cent affordable housing and 80 per cent private housing.
Meanwhile, accusations of developers hoarding land and making massive profits were rejected by Mr Ciaran Ryan, chairman of the Irish Home Builders' Association.
Mr Ryan said the lack of investment in water, sewerage and road networks was a more realistic explanation. "Local authorities' planning resources have been unable to cope with the demands placed on them," he said.
The extent of the current economic boom was not predicted by anyone, according to Mr Ryan. "In reality, the house-building sector is to be congratulated on delivering a supply so far in excess of all predictions."
The IHBA chairman also warned that a section of the Planning and Development Act 2000 could cause major delays in house construction.
When the Government announced the requirement for social and affordable housing, it said that the life-span of a planning permission would be reduced to two years for any developments approved after August 25th, 1999, and before local housing strategies were implemented.
This was to ensure that developers would not try to avoid the requirement for social housing by getting their planning permission approved before the housing strategies were implemented.
However, Mr Ryan said many developers with plans for 500 or 600 houses would not be able to have this work completed in time. Therefore they would have to reapply for planning permission.
"This will cause major delays," he said. "And with an underresourced planning system, the last thing we need is unnecessary applications."
