EDITORIAL: What will become of Tipperary's big plans if young people leave?

Have you had to say goodbye to a loved one who has emigrated?

Was one of their reasons for leaving that they had nowhere to live? It’s common enough to hear from our representatives that there are a myriad of reasons for leaving Ireland. But even for those coming in, finding somewhere to live is a Herculean task.

This week, the Central Statistics Office released the 2023 quarter four New Dwelling Completion dataset.

The publishing of the set completes the picture of new homes built in 2023.

The Department of Housing celebrated that the report showed the highest number of homes, 517 in Tipperary, delivered since the record began in 2011.

But most of those are houses with only 26 apartments. And if you dig a little deeper to 2022, you will find that is a reduction on last year’s figure of 45.

But why stop there?

Counting all the apartments built in Tipperary since the beginning of the record, you get just 222.

At time of publishing, there were just 17 properties for rent in Tipperary on Daft.ie and only five of those were apartments.

Now, perhaps the idea is that everyone would like to own their own home, and apartments don’t exactly lend themselves to raising a family, building a life etc.

And while that is true, not everybody is going to be able to do that. Buying a home as a single person is almost impossible.

There isn’t enough student accommodation, and some studying will have to rely on the private rental sector. Businesses need secure young professionals who have to live somewhere and others who may not want to or may not need a house. And then there are those who will never be able to afford to buy.

We might all love to own our own home. We might all want to live debt free, have a perfect work-life balance and to sleep eight hours a night, but as many people know, that is a pipedream.

At least that’s true for many people leaving Ireland. Of course, young people leaving Ireland for a better life is nothing new.

But most of us want better for ourselves, our loved ones and our communities. It might be all well and good in the big city but we have big plans in Tipp. We need people to work, study and live locally.

Or at least not to have to say a tearful “goodbye and see you soon” at the airport.