Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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226. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 548 of 30 September 2014, the number of times the Dublin Housing Supply Task Force has met since its establishment; and if he will report on the work completed by the task force to date in progressing the Construction 2020 Strategy. [42594/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Action 2 of the Government’s Construction 2020Strategy commits to the establishment of a Housing Supply Coordination Taskforce for Dublin with an immediate focus on addressing supply-related issues. The Task Force has been tasked to work closely with industry and other parties, including those responsible for key infrastructure such as schools, to identity and address any obstacles to viable and appropriate development. The Task Force has met on six occasions since its establishment.

In line with its remit, the immediate focus of the Task Force has been to monitor trends in the supply of viable and market-ready approved developments and in its first report of the 30 June 2014, the Task Force reported the following:

(1) Across the four Dublin authorities, planning permission is in place for the immediate development of 12,785 houses and 7,925 apartments, which permissions are unconstrained from any short term infrastructure issues and which level of development would broadly equate to at least 3 years supply of new homes if they were being built at a rate of 7,500 homes per annum, for Dublin.

(2) A further 25,507 new homes are deemed permissible in the immediate to short term on lands zoned and available for development but currently without the benefit of a planning permission.

(3) Together, the extent of permitted development and lands available for development are sufficient to meet Dublin’s needs for at least the next 6 years, which suggests that wider economic conditions and structural and financial issues within the housing and development sector are more significant constraints on an uplift in activity than the availability of lands or planning permission.

The Task Force is preparing for a further end of year report monitoring trends in the levels of planning applications and decisions and also intends to publish information for the general public, including potential house purchasers and investors, about the location of the key residential development sites around Dublin and existing planning permissions and active developments. The Task Force will also advance a preliminary analysis of infrastructural delivery factors in preparing further zoned lands for housing delivery beyond the next six years.