Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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1024. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has satisfied himself that Dublin City Council has the necessary resources to advance plans for the construction of 640 housing units on its site at Oscar Traynor Road, Santry, Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12113/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The active management of the publicly-owned housing land bank is part of a range of complementary actions being progressed under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, designed to accelerate and increase housing output.

The Oscar Traynor Road site referred to is one of three significant sites being brought forward by Dublin City Council under its Housing Land Initiative (HLI), the aim of which is to ensure the delivery of mixed-tenure homes in the Dublin City Council functional area. All three sites under the HLI are identified as Strategic Development and Regeneration Areas (SDRA) within the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022.

Mixed-tenure developments are an important policy objective in Rebuilding Ireland and uphold the principle of sustainable mixed communities, where housing needs are not subject to rigid segregation, based on income levels. They also provide an opportunity to see major sites developed more quickly, and integrated into existing communities and areas.

Oscar Traynor Road has the potential to yield 640 mixed-tenure homes and the elected members of the City Council have determined that the homes will be provided on the basis of a 30% social, 20% affordable, and 50% private tenure-mix.

The progression of this project is being undertaken by Dublin City Council, working closely with my Department. In terms of the publicly funded elements, like all publicly funded construction projects, the development of this site must comply with the Government’s Capital Works Management Framework and procurement rules, to ensure greater cost certainty, better value for money and financial accountability. 

This is a priority project for the Council and it is progressing through procurement with the Prior Information Notice (PIN) published on 20 June 2017 and the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) issued on 9 February 2018. My Department and I remain committed to working with Dublin City Council to ensure that the necessary resources are in place to deliver the mixed-tenure homes planned on what is a key site for the sustainable development of Dublin City.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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1025. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if funding from the local infrastructure housing activation fund for the construction of pathways and a new school entrance for a school (details supplied) in Dublin 9 will be allocated to facilitate the construction of 640 housing units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12114/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The process of allocating funding under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund began in August 2016 when Local Authorities were invited to submit proposals which were subsequently assessed and 34 of those proposals received preliminary approval in March 2017. The fund was fully allocated at that time. However, as part of Budget 2018, I announced an additional €50 million funding which will be available for a second LIHAF call and which will again be subject to matching funding of 25% by local authorities. This capital funding will facilitate the provision of additional public infrastructure to unlock further sites and activate more housing supply.  

It is intended that a call for proposals under LIHAF 2 will issue to local authorities shortly. It will be open to all local authorities to submit new projects or resubmit previous unsuccessful projects for consideration at that time. In this context, it will be open to Dublin City Council to decide whether to submit the project referenced by the Deputy, following consideration of whether it meets the relevant criteria for the funding. 

All proposals will be assessed in line with the criteria and aims of LIHAF and it is expected that approved projects will be announced in the latter half of 2018, with works expected to commence in 2019.