Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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632. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the social, affordable and cost rental housing targets and delivery in county Louth; the issues holding up specific developments, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47655/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. As detailed under Housing for All, the Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver affordable housing at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. The Government’s ambition is to build on progress to date under Housing for All, and deliver more than 300,000 homes in the period from 2025 to 2030, with an annual average of more than 50,000 homes per year, building up to 60,000 in 2030.

A comprehensive implementation strategy is in place to support the various affordable housing schemes now being delivered by a range of delivery partners.

All local authorities, including Louth County Council, have developed and published their Housing Delivery Action Plans, setting out their plans to deliver social and affordable housing during the period 2022-2026. This follows a comprehensive Housing Needs and Demand Assessment. Each local authority's Action Plan is available on their official website.

Louth County Council has already delivered local authority led affordable purchase homes in three schemes in Blackrock and Drogheda. My Department, in conjunction with the Housing Delivery Co-ordination Office of the Local Government Management Association and the Housing Agency, is continuing to advise and support Louth in developing further affordable housing schemes that are well-aligned with the local housing market context and that deliver on Louth's Housing Delivery Action Plan and affordable delivery targets.

Affordable purchase is also being supported in Louth through the First Home Scheme, with 363 approvals provided in respect of homes in Louth to Q1 2025. Louth has also seen its first cost rental homes delivered and the Vacant Property Refurbishment grant is also available to enable bringing homes back into use.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This includes data on delivery against targets. This data is available to the end of Q1 2025, and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/ .