The €56 million landbank loan debt which hung over Louth County Council in the post ‘Celtic Tiger’ era must not be repeated, a local councillor warned as plans to acquire new lands for housing were outlined this week.
The council’s 2026 Budget meeting heard that the local authority will have to invest in new land in order to fulfil its obligations under the government’s new housing plan.
But Cllr. Marianne Butler said caution was needed as “the lived experience is that we might have regretted some of the things that we bought, and money that was spent on certain land banks in the past.”
She asked what the council’s plans were to purchase land for future development, “and to ensure that we get good land banks, in the right places, to build on, and at the right price.”.
Councillor Butler joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.