Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Government affords a high priority to the use of vacant or underutilised state land for housing delivery. Under Housing for All, each Government Department/ Agency was requested to examine their existing portfolio of properties and place them on the market if they are not re­quired and may be suitable for conversion to residential accommodation. This is to ensure that every effort is made to identify state lands and properties which can be re-purposed to increase the supply of housing.

The establishing of the Land Development Agency (LDA) allows proactive management of the State’s extensive land bank. Real progress is being made on transferring relevant public land to the LDA to deliver social and affordable housing.

Construction work is underway in Cork City at the former St. Kevin’s Hospital site, delivering 265 new homes. Work is also underway at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co Kildare, which will see 219 homes being delivered. Additionally, the transfer of ESB land in Wilton, Cork is progressing, with design work underway to allow the LDA to submit a planning application for the site within the next year. It has the potential to deliver up to 300 new homes in the area.

Several other state-owned sites have planning applications lodged and approved. Planning approval was granted to the LDA for 345 homes in Hackettstown, Skerries and 817 homes in Castlelands, Balbriggan. The LDA also secured planning permission for 847 homes on the former Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum although this grant is currently the subject of a Judicial Review.

In addition to these sites, the LDA is partnering with local authorities to deliver housing on public lands. Construction of 597 new homes at Shanganagh, Co Dublin, is being delivered in partnership with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and will be devoted 100% to affordable and social homes, with the first units expected to be completed later this year.

The LDA has also recently been granted permission for 543 units for the Donore project at the site of the former St Teresa’s Gardens, Dublin 8, which is a partnership with Dublin City Council. The LDA is also partnering with Dublin City Council to deliver 146 new affordable homes at Cromcastle, Dublin 5 where construction is expected to commence later this year.

The LDA and Dublin City Council have also announced a new development of over 1,100 homes at Cherry Orchard Point in Dublin, with a proposed mix of cost rental and social homes, along with retail and community space, to be developed on greenfield lands owned by Dublin City Council.

Just last week, the transfer of a further 9 state-owned sites to the LDA to develop homes was approved by Government. These sites are located in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and their potential was identified in the LDA’s 2023 Report on Relevant Public Lands. These additional sites have the potential to deliver over 3,000 new homes.