International workers who initially moved to cities like Dublin, Cork and Galway are now looking at more affordable locations, putting increased pressure on the limited accommodation options in counties like Leitrim, according to one expert.
Leitrim-based estate agent Liam Farrell said “a sizeable chunk” of the queries he gets are from people who moved to Ireland but now want to quit the big cities. “They are attracted by a combination of things like smaller communities and also because it is much more affordable,” he said.
While the latest Daft.ie rental report showed that the average monthly rent in Leitrim was the lowest in the country at €907, the county also recorded one of the largest year-on-year increases of more than 22 per cent, which many in the county attributed to a lack of supply.
The lack of available accommodation to rent or buy is turning off potential employers attracted by the availability of office space and quality-of-life benefits, according to Colm Keane, manager of The Hive, a technology enterprise centre in Carrick-on-Shannon.
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Stressing that the 22.3 per cent annual increase in the county was “starting from a very low base”, Mr Keane said not only was there no existing accommodation for those wanting to move to Leitrim, “it is not even being built”.
Rents in places like Carrick-on-Shannon were only now back at 2007 levels, having dropped by 40 per cent following the crash, he said.
Local Independent county councillor Enda Stenson, who is chairman of the GAA county board, agreed that the real issue was lack of accommodation which leads to higher rents and makes attracting jobs a challenge.
Earlier this month, funding of €7.2 million was announced by Minister for Community and Rural Development Heather Humphreys for the purchase by Leitrim County Council of the former MBNA premises in Carrick-on-Shannon, where 1,200 workers were once based.
With 200 workers currently accommodated in the building, the target is to create 600 more jobs there over the next five years. But, according to Cllr Stenson: “we can’t do that unless we source accommodation for the workers first”.
He said that while Covid showed how attractive Leitrim was to workers who were, for the first time, in a position to work remotely, “the houses aren’t there to rent”.
As county board chairman he said he knew many young people who were emigrating because of a “lack of opportunities”, with poor employment prospects directly related to housing shortages.
“We have six on our county senior panel who will be in Australia by the time we kick a ball in the league next year,” said Cllr Stenson. “The opportunities are not here. And if we get the jobs, the accommodation isn’t here.”
Colm Keane said that while “you could not give away an apartment in Carrick 10 years ago”, there was never more than a handful of rental units available at any given time now, with Carrick’s thriving hen and stag business and tourism generally a factor.
Tourism is a big cog in the economy of Carrick. If you restrict that, what happens to all the other people who work in restaurants and bars and in launderettes and as cleaners?
— Auctioneer Liam Farrell
The manager of the enterprise space and co-working hub said demand for rental properties was so intense that landlords did not need to advertise. If a tenant quit in the morning, “the landlord would have a new tenant at the end of the day”.
Mr Keane said there were an estimated 1,000 visitors in Carrick-on-Shannon every weekend with an estimated 800 of those staying in Airbnb or other short-term rental properties.
“The three hotels in the town can cater for about 200 guests so that means the majority of the remaining 800 stay in apartments,” he said.
Liam Farrell believes that curbing short-term rentals would not solve Carrick-on-Shannon’s problems. “Tourism is a big cog in the economy of Carrick. It always has been. If you restrict that, what happens to all the other people who work in restaurants and bars and in launderettes and as cleaners?”
While many young people were returning to their offices now at least for a number of days a week, he said it was notable that many more established workers with specialist skills were still able to work remotely making counties like Leitrim sought after.
“And the National Broadband Plan is ramping up and that is a game changer for rural Ireland.”