Louth County Council says it does not get into "bidding war" with first-time buyers

Louth County Council have confirmed it does not buy second-hand homes if they are made aware a first-time buyer is interested in the property. 

It comes amid claims raised at this month's Dundalk Municipal District meeting that the local authority was outbidding first-time buyers which one councillor said was "exacerbating the housing crisis." 

The issue was raised again at January's meeting of Louth County Council.

Fianna Fáíl councillor for Dundalk Shane McGuinness said: "At our municipal meeting this was brought up that Louth County Council was buying second-hand homes within the county and this is obviously affecting young people that are trying to get on the housing ladder”.

Ger Murphy, Director of services for Housing and Cultural Delivery, with Louth County Council said "where we are alerted to a first-time buyer is interested in one of the houses we’re interested in we divest ourselves from that acquisition.”

He confirmed that Louth County Council had a budget worth €12 million for second-hand acquisitions in 2025 which he said was spent "pretty much in full". 

Independent councillor for Dundalk/Carlingford Ciarán Fisher said he was glad to hear that from the council. 

"If you’re a first-time buyer you don’t want to get into a bidding war with your Local authority who have deeper pockets and that will have the effect of raising house prices across the board.” 

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Cllr McGuinness said he had also been informed of anti-social behaviour in housing estates in Blackrock and Haggardstown in Dundalk.

He said it was coming specifically from newly-bought houses from Louth County County, in which he said tenants are causing havoc within days of moving in. 

“Surely we must have some responsibility to vet these people, look at their track record, and start to evict them, which you would hope would be a last resort.”

“But its not fair on the existing neighbours who have been living there all their lives to be disrupted in that way,” he said.

Mr Murphy said Louth County Council has a tenant engagement and anti-social behaviour policy. On the cases presented by Cllr Byrne he said he will follow up on those with its social housing unit. 

He also acknowledged that as social housing delivery continues to rise, Louth County Council will have to manage any possible increase anti-social behaviour. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.