Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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380. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on the latest bundle of public private partnerships social housing projects; whether any of the bundle of six projects is being dropped; and if so, where these projects are and the reason why they have been dropped. [31391/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The clear focus of this Government is to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. This is key to addressing the housing challenge and in particular preventing and ultimately eliminating long term homelessness, and that unquestionably must be the priority for all local authorities.

The social housing PPP programme was announced in 2014 aiming to deliver circa 1,500 units in three phases (Bundles 1 –3) with 25-year maintenance and tenancy management commitments before transferring to local authorities. In 2021, the Housing for All plan extended the initiative, identifying Bundles 4 –7 to deliver approximately 2,850 additional units.

Bundles 1 & 2 completed in 2021 delivered 999 new social homes across 8 counties and Bundle 3 targeted the delivery of a further 486 social homes across 6 sites in 4 Local Authority areas.

After conducting a review of the proposed costs of Bundle 3 of the Social Housing PPP programme, my Department has decided not to proceed to contract award in the current procurement process for the Social Housing Bundle 3 PPP project. This is due to the overall costs of the Bundle 3 project, which are now considered too high.

All sites within the Bundle 3 project have full planning permission and all of them will be delivered by way of alternative procurement and delivery strategies.

In light of the costs on Bundle 3, I have asked my Department to initiate, with the help of the NDFA, a review of Bundles 4 -7 to determine the most appropriate procurement and delivery strategy in order to ensure the best value for money for the public purse.