Corporation Housing in Cork City, Ireland 1963

While Cork City is much admired for its attractive corporation housing schemes, Cork County Council is planning to introduce a new system for dealing with housing issues. Cork City can boast of having one of the most modern and attractively designed corporation housing schemes in Ireland. Cork Corporation housing schemes, such as the houses and blocks of flats on Spangle Hill overlooking Cork City, are well designed and much admired with their bright paintwork and ample space for children’s playgrounds. While they compare well with private housing, councillors believe this type of housing is a short term solution and a different approach to housing problems is necessary for the morale of the community. Cork City Manager Walter McEvilly says almost half the population of the county borough are tenants of the Corporation houses and it is Socially undesirable that such a large percentage of the population should be tenants of Corporation estates, we are in fact becoming very big landlords. The City Council are investigating. Whether it’s possible to encourage people to build or buy their own hoses rather than have them build for them by the Corporation. Loans would be made available at reduced interest rates to people who are already tenants or might be eligible for tenancies of these houses. We hope the move will go from direct build for tenants to lending them money to build for themselves. Under the new proposal, the Corporation would not have to manage and maintain housing estates. This would free up funds and staff to assist those who want to build their own houses. This idea has been fully supported by the City Council. However, Mr McEvilly concedes there will always be a sector of the population who need to rent, and it is important to have housing available for letting to them. This episode of ‘Broadsheet’ was broadcast on 11 October 1963. The reporter and producer is Michael Monaghan.