The newly elected council may be forced into a showdown with local authority management and the Office of the Planning Regulator.
That's according to Independent councillor for Killarney Municipal District, Brendan Cronin.
At the recent Killarney MD meeting, several councillors spoke out at their frustration with state bodies which they believe are preventing the building of new homes in the
municipality.
Kerry Independent Alliance councillor John O’Donoghue said that many ordinary new homes in Killarney cost half a million euro; adding couples with good jobs can't get mortgages for the town because they have to pay city prices.
Independent councillor Maura Healy Rae said there are obstacles in every direction blocking people buying their first home in the district, forcing people to leave.
Independent councillor Niall ‘Botty’ O’Callaghan claimed that the Office of the Public Regulator has a lot to to answer for, accusing their policies of creating a mini-bubble in the district.
He said the OPR has zoned areas that will never be built on, driving up the price of land that will be sold.
Independent councillor Brendan Cronin said Uisce Éireann, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the planning regulator and the HSE are 'untouchable bodies' implementing government policies which he believes stymie the construction of homes.
Cllr Cronin said the is a sense of hopelessness amongst generations of families in Killarney who need a ray of light that they could have their own home.
Fianna Fáil councillor Niall Kelleher said Kerry County Council will be failing the people of Killarney if it doesn't lead the development of affordable housing, as is happening in other counties.
Labour Councillor Marie Moloney that there is also a need for a cost rental scheme in the district as not everyone wants to buy, and rents are already too expensive.
