Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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663. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will publish the number of hectares newly zoned for residential use following enactment of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2025; the Department’s projected number of housing units unlocked in Cork City and County for 2025 to 2027 as a result of these changes; and the minimum apartment floor area, storage and private open space standards now applicable after the July 2025 amendments to Section 28 guidelines, by local authority. [48139/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The zoning of land for particular purposes, including housing, is an exercise undertaken by planning authorities as part of their overall statutory plan function generally as part of a development plan under sections 9 to 13 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended), but can at present also be carried out as part of a local area plan (LAP) process. The making of a development plan or an LAP is a reserved function of the elected members of each authority.

It should be noted in the first instance that the zoning of land within a development plan or a local area plan is not broken down on the basis of individual sites or parcels of land in individual ownerships. My Department therefore does not have the requested details for local authorities available.

However, the Land Development Agency (LDA) has developed the State Lands Database which provides a detailed and mapped representation of the extent and location of lands owned by public bodies including local authorities in Ireland.

Details of the zoning status of lands identified in the State Lands Database are available as part of the information provided by the LDA. This zoning information is sourced from the MyPlan.ie platform which amalgamates the zoning information from statutory City and County Development Plans nationally.

The LDA has also completed the Register of Relevant Lands, being lands owned by local authorities and bodies listed under Schedule 1 and 2 of the Land Development Agency Act 2021, in urban population areas greater than 10,000.

Both the State Lands Database and the Register of Relevant Lands are also available in an online map format on the LDA website at the following link: lda.ie/register-of-relevant-lands/map/.

The Planning Design Standards for Apartments Guidelines for Planning Authorities, 2025 “the Guidelines” were issued under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended). Section 28 of the Act provides that planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála shall have regard to Ministerial guidelines in the performance of their functions. Where the Guidelines contain specific planning policy requirements (SPPRs), planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála are required to comply with these requirements in the performance of their functions.

The minimum basic 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartment sizes remain unchanged from the previous Guidelines issued in 2023 at 45 sq.m, 73 sq.m and 90 sq.m, respectively. Restrictions on smaller 2-bedroom three-person apartments (at 63 sq. m) have been removed and a new smaller 3-bedroom four-person apartment (at 76 sq.m) has been introduced in recognition of changing household needs. The size of a studio apartments has been reduced to 32 sq.m in recognition of the fact that the previous minimum studio (37 sq. m) was only 8 sq.m smaller than the minimum 1 bedroom apartment.

The minimum requirements for storage areas, sizes of balconies/terraces remain and requirements for communal open space are generally unchanged from previous Guidelines. The new Guidelines do however enable planning authorities to accept a reduced provision of private open space in certain circumstances where high quality, usable communal open space can be provided in the scheme, or where the amenity value of balconies/private open space would be negligible, such as where units front onto major sources of noise and/or air pollution. The Guidelines recommend that the number of units without direct access to private amenity space within apartment schemes not exceed 50%.