Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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414. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of potential development sites in each local authority that are publicly owned or controlled; the total area in hectares of these sites; the potential number of bed spaces or housing units that could be constructed on these sites; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13122/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which is available at , contains a number of integrated actions to underpin active land supply management for the delivery of housing. In particular, Action 3.5 commits to the establishment of a centralised database of publicly-owned lands, that are potentially suitable for the development of housing, whether by the State or by private sector housing providers, and that could be brought forward to aid land, and therefore housing, supply.

Initially, this involves identifying and mapping sites in local authority and public ownership with appropriate lands to be master-planned to deliver increased mixed-tenure housing, including social and more affordable homes, to meet demand. The map will form part of the broader National Land Supply Management Strategy, which is being developed within the context of the Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework. Once established, the map will be updated to record the development and use of these lands, to ensure that the best possible information is publicly available. The project is an iterative process and will be completed in phases.

Phase 1 of the mapping project is well underway and involves the mapping of approximately 700 sites in local authority ownership and those held by the Housing Agency under the Land Aggregation Scheme, showing their location, size, boundaries and other information. I expect to be in a position to publish this mapped data set, together with lands zoned for residential development, in the coming weeks.

Phase 2 of the project involves the mapping of other publicly-owned and religious congregation-owned sites with housing potential. In this regard, my Department is working with the relevant Government Departments, State Agencies and semi-State bodies to identify all potentially suitable sites. The initial focus of this phase of the project will be on lands in the main urban areas where demand is highest, i.e. Dublin, and the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

A third phase of the project will involve the mapping of local authority and Approved Housing Body social housing construction projects. This will include new build projects under the Social Housing Capital Investment Programme, the Capital Assistance Scheme, as well as regeneration, rapid delivery, turnkey (i.e. pre-construction acquisition), design and build, and Part V projects.  

Already, local authorities and approved housing bodies have a strong pipeline of construction projects in place that will deliver 8,430 social housing homes. In February, I published a full list of social housing construction projects, in each local authority area, in the Social Housing Construction Status Report for Q4 2016 which can be accessed here:. 

I am keen that all approved projects are advanced as quickly as possible and I have assured the local authorities that funding is available for well-planned, quality projects, to fully support their efforts in this regard.

At its heart, Rebuilding Ireland is about increasing and accelerating housing delivery, across all tenures, to help individuals and families find homes. The active pursuit of housing provision on State lands, including local authority lands, will continue to be an important part of delivering on this overall ambition.