Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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237. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will provide information on the planned reduction in social housing provision at publicly owned sites earmarked for redevelopment under land initiative style proposals, relative to the amount of council housing historically provided on those sites when estates were originally built. [2547/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I believe there is a broad consensus that housing output needs to at least double, across all tenures, to provide the 25,000 new homes a year needed to meet demand. There is also consensus on the need for a significant portion of the increased output to be at more affordable prices and rents. Achieving these aims is the fundamental objective underpinning the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness.

During the extensive stakeholder consultation that preceded publication of Rebuilding Ireland, the issue of large tracts of land, suitable for housing, but with little or no construction underway, was raised frequently. In the case of local authority owned lands, I was determined that under Rebuilding Ireland, we would see accelerated delivery of homes from these and other State lands. In progressing housing activity on these sites, there is no question of reducing social housing output. Overall, some 47,000 additional social housing units are to be provided under Rebuilding Ireland and in the case of large publicly owned sites, social housing is to be delivered as part of vibrant, integrated, mixed tenure developments.

O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin City is a good example of one such large site where the City Council has brought forward a significant proposal for accelerated housing development. In order to optimise delivery of housing from this site, my Department has agreed a mixed tenure approach with the City Council. This approach delivers accelerated output across all tenures and also has wider benefits in terms of the achievement of more sustainable integrated communities. Such developments are considered on a case by case and site-specific basis between my Department and the local authority concerned.

The approach to delivery of housing from such sites is in accordance with State land supply and management objectives contained in Rebuilding Ireland. More broadly, my Department is engaging with local authorities and other State bodies, to identify and map sites in local authority and public ownership for the purposes of delivering housing more quickly. This approach to active land management of State land can also enhance land supply more broadly, providing alternatives for a wide variety of housing providers, including the public and voluntary housing sectors, and ensuring that the State extracts the most beneficial use of under-utilised assets for much needed housing in the shortest possible timeframe.

As part of the broader land management strategy, I recently announced details of 23 Major Urban Housing Development Sites, some in State ownership and some owned privately, with the potential to deliver up to 30,000 additional homes over the next 3 to 4 years on existing zoned lands and close to the key areas of demand. These sites are being progressed as exemplars for the co-ordination and delivery of plan-led housing development and active land management.