Beauchamps’ social housing event with Minister Eoghan Murphy sparks fresh thinking for solutions to social housing provision in Ireland.
On 25 October 2017, Beauchamps held a social housing event with special guest Eoghan Murphy T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, at our offices on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.The event provided a forum for clients and other participants in the housing sector to engage on key issues related to the housing crisis. The purpose of the event was to spark some very fresh thinking about the provision of social housing in Ireland and also to provide practical guidance on overcoming one of the key challenges - procuring social housing developments.
The event was attended by over 80 representatives from local authorities, developers, approved housing bodies, financial institutions, funds, state bodies and other key participants in the social housing sector.
Group photo: Back L - R: Declan Dunne, CEO, Respond! Housing Association / Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government / Felix McKenna, CEO of Urbeo Residential / John White, Managing Partners, Beauchamps / John O’Connor, CEO of the Housing Agency
Front L - R: Dorit McCann, Partner & Head of EU, Competition & Procurement, Beauchamps /Fidelma McManus, Partner & Head of Housing, Beauchamps
The event looked at
- Government initiatives associated with €1.9 billion budget allocation for housing next year (and increase of 46% on 2017)
- How to ensure procurement processes do not present obstacles to the efficient delivery of social housing
- Coordination between the private and public sectors for delivery of social housing and sustainable communities
- Key success factors identified from recent experience with successful social housing initiatives - such as NAMA’s NARPS Project – in order to deliver large scale housing more efficiently
KEYNOTES:
- The event was moderated by Fidelma McManus, a partner at Beauchamps and head of our specialist housing practice
- Eoghan Murphy T.D., Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, spoke about the Government’s review of the Rebuilding Ireland strategy and its plans to increase social housing supply
- Dorit McCann, partner and Beauchamps’ head of EU, competition & procurement spoke about the recent changes to EU procurement regulations and provided practical tips on how to deal with common issues which arise in relation to procurement in the housing sector
PANELLISTS:
- Minister Eoghan Murphy - Eoghan Murphy TD was appointed to Cabinet as the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in June 2017 by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. He is a member of Fine Gael and represents the constituency of Dublin Bay South.
- Felix McKenna - Felix McKenna was recently appointed CEO of Urbeo Residential, a newly created Fund to provide social and affordable housing in sustainable mixed-tenure communities. Felix was previously Deputy Head of Asset Management at NAMA with responsibility for social housing delivery.
- Declan Dunne - Declan joined Respond! as CEO in August 2016 following on from his role as CEO of Sophia Housing Association. He was a Director of the Ballymun Regeneration Board for ten years and also serves as Chair of the Homeless Network all of the major Homeless Agencies. Declan is a member of Dublin Statutory Consultative Homeless Forum and the Implementation Advisory Group at the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.
- John O’Connor - John is the Chief Executive of the Housing Agency, which is a statutory body set up under the aegis of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG). John was previously the Chief Executive of the Affordable Homes Partnership and prior to that Executive Manager with Dublin City Council’s Housing Department.
Contact: Triona Saunders: t.saunders@beauchamps.ie or Chloe O’Sullivan c.osullivan@beauchamps.ie