Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action he is taking to promote apartment building; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35797/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has introduced a range of measures to enable and support the delivery of apartments, including through planning reform, zoning, financing, rental sector reforms, cost of construction measures and other targeted measures.

The impact of the current rent control system on the supply of new homes for rent is a key consideration for this Government and recent changes announced to Rent Pressure Zones from March 2026 are expected to attract private investment back into the Irish rental sector and that increased supply of much needed apartments for the private rental sector will follow. These changes will apply to apartments subject to commencement notices from 10 June 2025 and will include rent increases for such new apartments being linked to inflation (CPI).

The waiving of local authority development contributions and refunding of water connection charges for dwellings that commenced between April 2023 and December 2025 and will be completed before the end of 2026 has supported viability following that period of high construction cost inflation.

My Department supports apartment delivery for social and affordable housing throughout its funding streams, including through accelerated funding for delivery by AHBs by means of staged payments, which can lower the cost of delivery of apartments.

The Croí Cónaithe Cities Scheme is a scheme to support the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers. The Scheme aims to bridge the viability gap between the cost of building apartments and the market sale price. Three Calls for Expressions of Interest have been undertaken to date and ten contracts have been signed for the delivery of over 1,000 homes.

The Department has recently made a number of changes to the scheme to further enhance and support delivery of apartments for private sale. A fourth call is currently open for Expressions of Interest until 15 August.

The Government has also recently agreed to an expansion to the remit of the Land Development Agency to support the delivery of housing, including unlocking key strategic public lands for urban brownfield delivery through infrastructure investment which will enable further apartment building.

The Programme for Government 2025, commits to introducing a new, all of government national housing plan to follow Housing for All, which will be underpinned by a multi-annual funding commitment. Additional measures to scale-up delivery further in the medium and long-term are being considered as part of the new housing plan which will be published in the coming months.