Written answers

Thursday, 9 March 2023

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Provision

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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153. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to work with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and other bodies to ensure the immediate servicing of the public housing lands in Old Conna and Rathmichael to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11857/23]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is working closely with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLR) to accelerate the delivery of housing on the local authority-owned sites at Old Conna and Rathmichael. Two such sites (Ballyman and Old Connaught) are part of my Department's accelerated delivery programme. In December 2022 my Department funded the pay-off of Housing Finance Agency site debts for these sites. DLR has agreed to progress these projects to be on-site by end 2024 and using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).

DLR has advised my Department that works to enable development are being progressed. My Department is working closely with the Council to advance these areas for delivery of social housing.

DLR has also advised that initial work has begun on the preparation of the Local Area Plans for Old Connaught and Rathmichael. The Local Area Plans are being advanced to accelerate the delivery of new communities in the area and delivering on the Council’s housing programme.

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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156. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on measures to increase the supply of affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11757/23]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All sets out the range of actions intended to increase the overall supply of housing to 33,000 new homes on average per year over the next decade. Under the strategy, 54,000 affordable home interventions will be delivered between now and 2030 to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the Land Development Agency (LDA) and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks. This includes 36,000 affordable homes for purchase and 18,000 for cost rental.

To allow the development of these homes, I introduced the Affordable Housing Act 2021, which provided for two new Affordable Purchase schemes (the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme and the First Home shared equity scheme), as well as a new form of tenure in Cost Rental.

To implement the key objectives under Housing for All, each local authority has prepared and published a Housing Delivery Action Plan in respect of local authority supported delivery from 2022 to 2026. These plans were published on the local authorities’ respective websites in July 2022.

The first Cost Rental homes were delivered in 2021 and 2022 saw significant delivery of further Cost Rental homes by AHBs and the first Cost Rental homes delivered by the LDA.

Separately, the LDA has an immediate focus on managing the State’s own lands to develop new homes, and regenerate under-utilised sites. In the longer-term, it will assemble strategic land-banks from a mix of public and private lands making these available for housing, which is expected to bring more long-term stability to the Irish housing market.

In the shorter-term, the LDA is also tasked with unlocking stalled private planning-consented developments through its market engagement initiative - Project Tosaigh. The initial expressions of interest process was launched at the end of 2021, with a renewed expressions of interest process launched in October last year. Work is underway in assessing the recent proposals submitted to supplement the pipeline of affordable housing already in place.

Finally, the First Home shared equity scheme was launched last July to support affordability-constrained First Time Buyers purchasing newly constructed homes on the private market. In its first six months of operation to the end of 2022, it received over 1,000 applications and issued 750 approvals. Full details of the Scheme, including eligibility criteria, are available on the website: .

Other measures available to support affordability constrained households include the Local Authority Home Loan and the Help-to-Buy incentive scheme.

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the contacts that have taken place between his Department and Kerry County Council or the HSE/Department of Health or any other State agency in relation to the possible change of use of the St. Finan's Hospital building and site for housing provision for the people of Killarney; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11915/23]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has not had any formal contact or discussions regarding the property referred to in the Question. Notwithstanding this, my Department is advised by Kerry County Council that the potential reuse of the former psychiatric hospital, St. Finan’s Killarney, for social and affordable housing purposes is under review by the Council in the context of its responsibility for developing social and affordable housing delivery pipelines under Housing for All.

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