Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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239. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason for the delays in having housing built on the OPW site on Jamestown Road, Inchicore and on the surplus lands of the CIÉ Works in Dublin 8, despite the site being identified for housing over a decade and a half ago. [54049/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Government continues to maintain a strong focus on the use of vacant and underutilised state owned and public land for housing, having agreed the transfer of 37 sites to the Land Development Agency (LDA) for the development of affordable and social housing.  Housing construction is already underway on four sites and planning applications have been granted or lodged in the case of 7 further sites.

The OPW and Irish Rail lands in Inchicore were agreed by Government for transfer to the LDA under Housing for All in 2021.

These lands, together with land owned by ESB represent a significant quantum of public land in the Inchicore/Jamestown Road area and sit within the wider City Edge regeneration opportunity.

Much of these lands are currently in operational use by Irish Rail as a train maintenance and repair deport, by the OPW as a storage and engineering facility and by the ESB as a high voltage electricity sub-station of regional importance.

As a result of these current, and former uses, there are significant constraints across these lands that require unlocking before residential development can be delivered. These constraints include numerous protected structures, including the large Michael Scott building on the OPW site which is National Inventory of Architectural Heritage listed; issues with contamination; the presence of SEVESO uses, which require relocation; and the presence of significant overhead and underground infrastructure, which requires consolidation and/or re-routing; and the consolidation or relocation of other functions/existing uses to free up land for residential development. It should also be noted that, at this stage, the land in this area is not zoned for residential development.

The LDA is currently working with all land-owning stakeholders and the Local Authority to fully understand the constraints on the site and to determine the potential and timeline for residential development, together with the associated costs.

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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240. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if increased funding will be made available for the second-hand acquisition programme, specifically the tenant-in-situ scheme, in Kildare to combat record and increasing levels of homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54050/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I am satisfied there is adequate scope within the original €325 million budget, coupled with the flexibility to enter into commitments that might only materialise in 2026, to support all acquisitions that can be contractually completed and drawn down by local authorities before the end of this year.

Accordingly, where local authorities have indicated to my Department that they are likely to fully commit and draw down their original allocation this year, but could progress additional acquisitions if further funding were available, they have been approved do so where these acquisitions can be contractually completed and fully drawn down from my department in 2025.

I have also written recently to local authorities authorising them to enter into acquisitions that are more likely to close and fall due in 2026. Local authorities can now enter into financial commitments for 2026 to a value of up to 30% of their original 2025 acquisitions budget. This will allow priority acquisitions to continue in the closing months of 2025, with certainty on funding availability in 2026, should such purchases not complete this year.