James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures he will take to increase the availability of affordable housing in east Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12855/25]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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69. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he can increase the supply of cost-rental properties in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12873/25]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 69 together.

The Government has put in place a comprehensive range of supports for affordable home ownership and cost rental homes, which are being delivered by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, the Land Development Agency, via the First Home scheme, and by bringing vacant homes back into use. Significant public funding is being made available to support all of these delivery streams.

My Department is supporting the acceleration of affordable housing delivery with funding and other practical measures, both by Cork County Council, and more widely, by key delivery partners alongside local authorities.

Cork County Council has published its Housing Delivery Action Plan 2022-2026 on its website and it has been very successful in terms of its delivery of affordable housing to date. It has put a strong affordable housing delivery programme in place with the support of the Affordable Housing Fund that is anticipated to deliver over 650 affordable homes including 130 cost rental homes. By end September 2024, almost 200 of those homes were already delivered. Affordable purchase and rental homes are being delivered in key urban centres across the county, including Midleton and Youghal, in East Cork; Mallow and Macroom in North West Cork and Clonakilty and Bantry in Cork South West.

Funding approval under the Cost Rental Equity Loan Scheme is in place to date to support the delivery by approved housing bodies of 597 cost rental homes in Cork City and 40 in Cork County.

Furthermore, affordable home purchase opportunities have been delivered to over 600 eligible households in the Cork County Council area via the First Home scheme up to the end of September 2024. The First Home Scheme is available nationally and applies to any new home, bridging the gap for households. I anticipate that First Home will continue to be an increasingly significant delivery solution for eligible affordable purchase candidates in the Cork County Council area in the coming years.

Given the profile of the county, I also expect that the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the Ready to Build serviced sites schemes will also contribute strongly to addressing overall affordability needs in County Cork. Both of these schemes have been advertised by Cork County Council on its official website.

My Department continues to work closely with Cork County Council and delivery partners to build on the strong momentum now in place and deliver increasing numbers of affordable homes for purchasers and renters across the county.

The affordable housing pipeline continues to grow as new schemes are identified, planned and approved and will be enhanced further as the higher Part V requirements introduced in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 begin to yield affordable housing dividends.