Newly elected Limerick mayor John Moran is getting up to €15,000 a month in rent from a co-living development he owns in the city. The development has no publicly advertised vacancies.
Moran, who charges up to €1,400 a month for a single room, recently said high rents are “driving our young from Limerick”.
The ex-Department of Finance secretary general was elected first citizen of Limerick city and county yesterday after receiving almost a quarter of the first preference votes in last Friday’s election.
‘€1,400 a month plus service charge’
In 2018 John Moran bought 8 and 9, The Crescent just off Limerick City’s O’Connell Street, paying €225,000 for the latter, according to the Property Price Register.
He later renovated and converted the Georgian buildings into a co-living development with five apartments and eight single-occupancy studios. Tenants renting Moran’s studios share a communal kitchen, library room and garden.
The monthly rent for a studio ranges from €1,000 to €1,400.
In February Moran advertised a one-person studio to let in the development for €1,150 a month. Tenants pay a €60 monthly service charge in addition to their rent.
The lobbyist and banker earns €15,214 a month from the 13 units, when fully occupied, according to figures from the development’s website.
The development currently has no rooms available to rent.
Moran owns at least four other residential properties in Limerick and Dublin, according to Land Registry records.
Last week Moran expressed concern that high rents are forcing young people out of Limerick and promised solutions.
“If I don’t have a quicker and more agile short-term plan to complement my longer term plan then housing and rental prices will climb even higher, driving our young from Limerick simply because they cannot afford to live here,” he said.
“I want to be the mayor who delivers a Vienna model of affordable housing for Limerick,” he added.
Moran has been accused in the past of bringing vulture funds to Ireland when he served as secretary general at the Department of Finance under Fine Gael minister Michael Noonan from 2012 to 2014.
He declined to comment.
