Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I was afraid we might have been talking about two different places and I would not like that.

I am happy to update the House on this matter, noting that, in line with the Affordable Housing Act 2021, responsibility for the administration of affordable housing schemes rests with the local authority concerned, in this case Cork County Council. Kinsale is an absolutely place but it is not just for people who can afford very expensive sites or houses. Ireland is for everybody and Kinsale is certainly for everybody, and it is important that there be affordable housing there and that everybody can enjoy living there as much as anywhere else.

The Housing for All Strategy is delivering on the programme for Government commitment to stepping up the housing supply and putting homeownership and affordability at the heart of the housing system. The overall ambition is to increase the supply of housing by delivering 300,000 homes for social, affordable and cost-rental, private rental and private ownership housing purposes over the nine-year period of the plan. Approximately 54,000 affordable home interventions will be delivered between now and 2030 to be facilitated by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks. Funding is made available by the Government to assist local authorities in the delivery of affordable housing for purchase and rent through the affordable housing fund and the cost rental equity loan.

The target for Cork County Council for the delivery of affordable housing from 2022 to 2026 is 189 affordable purchase and cost-rental units in the five-year period to 2026. Cork county has shown a strong commitment to affordable housing delivery and has a comprehensive affordable housing delivery programme in place, which will see it meet and exceed its Housing for All target. Its housing delivery action plan, published on the council’s official website, has identified a new housing need with an affordability constraint of 7.2% of new households throughout the county and outlined the council's proposals to deliver 682 affordable dwellings by 2026. Funding approval is in place under the affordable housing fund to assist with the development costs of 649 affordable homes. These will be predominantly affordable purchase homes, including 111 cost-rental units. Implementation of the delivery programme is advancing well, as the Senator will know better than I. Cork county has successfully delivered the first phase of homes for affordable purchase at Clonmore, Mallow, and is advertising further affordable purchase opportunities at Water’s Edge, Carrigaline, and Cluain Ard, Cobh.

With regard to the development at Cammogue, Kinsale, this is a mixed-tenure scheme of social and affordable houses proposed by Cork County Council as part of a bundle of schemes being procured collectively at various locations within the county. The Cammogue, Kinsale, component will involve the delivery of 112 affordable purchase homes in three phases in 2025 and 2026. My understanding from the Department is that Cork County Council appointed a construction design team earlier this year that will be responsible for undertaking the design process and completing the Part 8 planning approval process. Cork County Council has confirmed the project is progressing broadly in line with that target and that the first phase of affordable homes at this location in Kinsale is expected to be advertised to affordable housing applicants in quarter 4 of 2024, this time next year.

The Department of housing will continue to liaise with Cork County Council in respect of this affordable housing scheme in Kinsale and the local authority’s overall affordability programme. Given the profile of the county, it is also anticipated the Croí Cónaithe towns fund, which includes funding for the vacant property refurbishment grant, a huge opportunity for anybody, and the ready-to-build scheme will also prove invaluable in addressing overall affordability needs in County Cork. The first home scheme is also available to affordable housing candidates nationwide and I understand it has shown significant early signs of take-up in Cork.

As I outlined, we are making progress on delivering on the social and affordable housing targets, although, as the Senator noted, it has been a gap and it is important the Government deliver on that with county councils.