Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

1319. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government in view of the CSO showing Ireland’s population reached 5.38 million, driven by net migration of 79,300 in a single year, the specific housing units, that will be delivered by the Government in 2026 to keep pace with this surge. [47968/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Programme for Government commits to a new national housing plan to underpin delivery of more than 300,000 houses, including delivery of an average of 12,000 and 15,000 social and starter homes per annum respectively over the period.

The revised National Planning Framework (NPF) sets out the need to plan for approximately 50,000 additional households per annum to 2040, and this reflects Government’s commitment to accelerated growth in new homes as our population changes and further grows.

Further to the approval of the Revised NPF, the NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines were issued by the Minister under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in July 2025.  These guidelines set out the housing demand scenario to 2040 for each local authority by translating the NPF housing requirements into estimated average annual figures. This draws on the range of scenarios presented by the ESRI in 2024 updated research and modelling on population growth and structural housing demand, and assumptions relating to unmet demand.

The Guidelines provide the basis for a consistent approach to be taken by all 31 local authorities in incorporating national and regionally-based population and housing projections of the Revised NPF into their statutory plans and thereby ensure that the Revised NPF takes effect within the planning system in a plan-led manner.

These Section 28 Guidelines support this implementation by identifying the national housing growth requirements for each local authority based on the revised NPF and anticipated housing need.