Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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195. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the rate of production of housing that would have to take place to support not only Dublin’s current population, but also to support the 150,000 person increase that Dublin will undergo in the next ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18467/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Population growth projections and estimates of the extent to which additional population will translate into additional demand for housing units, are subject to some uncertainty, given the range of variables involved. For this reason, the Central Statistics Office provides a number of projected scenarios associated with future population levels. Factors such as economic conditions in Dublin and elsewhere, migration, fertility, and household formation rates will all have a bearing on actual observed population change and the consequent demand for housing.

What is certain is that supply of new homes must increase in Dublin and elsewhere. My priority therefore, as Minister with responsibility for housing and planning, is to ensure that all reasonable steps are being taken to secure the required increase in housing supply to meet both current and future demand.

The Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness (July 2016), which is available at the following link, , is focused on increasing supply across all tenures to achieve total housing output of at least 25,000 homes nationally per year by 2021 and beyond, effectively doubling the output of 12,600 homes recorded in 2015.  A significant proportion of these homes will need to be provided in the Greater Dublin Area, where demand pressures are greatest.

As well as the unprecedented increase in the Government’s social housing investment programme to €5.35 billion over the six-year period to 2021, this Action Plan includes measures to encourage, facilitate and incentivise the increase of housing supplied by the private sector for both purchase and rent. Through Rebuilding Ireland, I am also working to ensure that housing is delivered much more quickly from key strategic sites in Dublin and the other cities in both public and private ownership, particularly off State-owned lands.

In that regard, a total of €113 million funding of enabling infrastructure is being provided to the four Dublin local authorities under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund to open up major housing sites to deliver an estimated 14,000 additional housing units up to 2021, with a long-term potential yield of over 37,000 as the sites are fully built out. Further details on the Dublin sites funded can be found at .

My Department continues to work closely with the four Dublin local authorities, through the governance arrangements under Rebuilding Ireland and, more specifically, through the Dublin Housing Supply Coordination Taskforce.  This Task Force, which comprises representatives from my Department, the Chief Executives of the four Dublin local authorities, NAMA and other key agencies, was established to address supply-related issues regarding the delivery of homes in the Dublin region.

In Quarter 4 2016, the Taskforce reported that there are some 5,200 homes under construction in Dublin, with permissions in place for a further 23,700 homes on which construction had not yet commenced. The full report can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link:

Finally, with regard to future planning more generally, the development of the new National Planning Framework, entitled Ireland 2040: Our Plan, is currently underway. This Framework will shape how Ireland, including Dublin, can and should develop over the next twenty years or more, and how we can plan for and accommodate the substantial additional population expected by 2040 in a more strategic and sustainable way.  My Department is currently analysing and assessing the submissions received under the initial public consultation exercise, as well as preparing other technical analyses to inform the new Framework. It is my intention to bring a draft Framework to Government by the Summer, for consideration by the Oireachtas later this year.  Further details in relation to the Framework can be found at www.npf.ie.