Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the absence of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who is dealing with legislation in the Seanad. I have been asked to relay his reply to the Deputy. I have taken a note of the points the Deputy has made.

The Department does not hold the data requested by the Deputy. It is a matter for each local authority to be satisfied that it has sufficient lands zoned to meet its overall housing needs, both in regard to wider residential development and in terms of lands on which social housing can be provided. Also, to clarify, the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, does not provide for specific zoning for social housing; the Act requires development plans to provide zoning of land for purposes, including for residential use.

Elsewhere, in Part V of the Act, provisions relating to social and affordable housing apply to that land that is zoned for residential use or a mixture of residential and other uses. For example, the written statement of a development plan must include an objective requiring that a specified percentage of the land zoned for residential use, or for a mixture of residential and other uses, be made available for the provision of social housing.

In addition, there have also been changes to the existing Part V social and affordable housing arrangements in the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, which are primarily aimed at maximising the transfer of completed social housing units. These changes include prioritising the delivery of social housing units on-site, with 10% social housing being required in new housing developments; a requirement that Part V agreements should be reached between developers and local authorities prior to the lodgement of a commencement notice for the development; the elimination of the current options allowing developers to fulfil their Part V obligations by means of the transfer of sites or land elsewhere, or of making a cash payment in lieu of social housing, thereby signalling that the focus is now firmly on the provision of units; the possibility for the new Part V provisions to be retrospectively applied to existing planning permissions where works have not yet commenced subject to the agreement of the developer and the planning authority; the introduction of the possibility for developers to agree with a planning authority to lease out units for social housing either on or off-site; and the increase in the size of developments exempted from the Part V provisions from developments of four units or fewer to developments of nine units or fewer.

Part V will now only apply to developments of ten units or more.

Specifically in respect of County Louth, I am assuming that Deputy Munster is referring to a site located at Dunleer, which is a project that will be delivered through a public private partnership, PPP, programme. This is expected to yield between 70 and 95 social housing units. My Department will be recouping part of an outstanding Louth County Council site loan, in proportion to the percentage of the overall site that is being used for the project.

As for the timeline for delivery, PPP projects in general take an estimated 37 to 48 months to deliver. It is anticipated that the first units will be ready to move into in mid-2019. My Department is working in partnership with local authorities and the National Development Finance Agency, NDFA. The latter is responsible for the procurement of the projects and supervision of the project companies during construction. At present, the planning and site design aspects of each site has been addressed and it is anticipated that the planning processes will commence in mid-February.

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