Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1702. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to introduce an affordable housing scheme in County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54310/17]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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1731. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable homes provided in County Louth in 2017; the anticipated number of affordable homes to be delivered in 2018 and 2019, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54781/17]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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1838. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he plans to publish the details of the establishment of a new affordable housing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2107/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1702, 1731 and 1838 together.

Recognising that housing affordability is a major issue for some households, several important initiatives have already been implemented under Rebuilding Ireland to stimulate housing supply at more affordable prices and rents. Such initiatives include:

- planning reforms to provide flexibility and certainty in delivering viable housing schemes and apartment developments in the right locations,

- funding of €226 million to open up housing lands through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF), to deliver new homes that are more viable and more affordable than would otherwise be the case, including funding of over €4.5 million for two strategic projects in Newtown, Drogheda and Mount Avenue, Dundalk that collectively can deliver over 400 homes by 2021, and

- the introduction of Rent Pressures Zones to moderate the rise in rents in the parts of the country where rents are highest and rising. Drogheda was designated a Rent Pressure Zone in September 2017.

Other significant measures to promote the building of more homes, more quickly, and at more affordable prices, were also introduced in Budget 2018 through:

- Investing more in direct house-building by the State, with investment of €6 billion committed, to increase the overall delivery to 50,000 new social homes by 2021;

- Removing the Capital Gains Tax incentive to hold on to residential land;

- Escalating penalties for land hoarding;

- Providing a new, more affordable finance vehicle for builders through House Building Finance Ireland (HBFI);

- Changes to planning guidelines in relation to apartment development.

While these actions are having an impact and will have a greater impact in time, I consider that a further package of targeted measures focussed on addressing affordability is needed to enable low- to moderate-income households, that do not qualify for social housing supports, to purchase or rent homes, particularly in Dublin and other major urban areas.  This will include, but will not be limited to, the deployment of €25 million Exchequer funding, over 2018 and 2019, to unlock local authority-owned lands specifically for affordable housing and further measures in relation to improving the viability of apartment development. I expect to make an announcement with regard to this further package of affordability measures in the very near future.