Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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1080. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if additional funding will be allocated to Meath County Council to accelerate the delivery of serviced sites in Navan, Trim and Kells under the Serviced Sites Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59101/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Serviced Sites Fund, which was introduced in 2019 as a support to local authorities towards the provision of infrastructure required to facilitate the delivery of affordable housing, has been replaced by the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF). The AHF is available on an ongoing basis to all local authorities to assist towards the development costs (which may include infrastructure, site costs, construction costs, etc.) of providing affordable housing for purchase or for rent in urban areas where affordable housing need have been identified.

To date Meath County Council has received funding approval for ten schemes to deliver 131 affordable purchase homes by end 2027 with AHF support, with 83 of these homes delivered to date.

In addition to the AHF, the Programme for Government recognised the need to accelerate home building by unblocking infrastructure delays and coordinating investment in servicing zoned land.

Significant progress has been made in establishing the Housing Activation Office, which is central to achieving this objective. Senior specialists from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the local government sector are now in place. In addition, senior staff from my Department are assigned to the Office.

The Office is also developing a new Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund under the National Development Plan to support direct investment in infrastructure needed at a local level to unblock housing development. This new fund will operate in addition to existing investment programmes such as the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund and the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, which will continue to play a key role alongside the Housing Infrastructure Fund.

This joined-up approach will help accelerate housing delivery by unblocking infrastructure constraints and ensuring that investment is targeted to where it can have the greatest impact. This will help support local authorities in achieving their housing targets in line with the Revised National Planning Framework.

While I cannot comment on any individual sites in advance of the opening of the Housing Infrastructure Fund, there will be close engagement with stakeholders, including local authorities, to identify priority areas for investment.

Separately, there is also a Ready to Build Scheme, launched in September 2022 and funded by the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund. Under the Scheme, local authorities can make serviced sites in towns and villages available to potential individual purchasers to build a home.

Under the Scheme, local authorities identify suitable sites in their ownership or purchase sites in towns and villages and make them available for sale for the purpose of building a principal private residence. Once serviced, the local authority will make the site available for sale at a discount on the market value of the site. The level of discount to the individual will depend on the level of servicing cost incurred by the local authority before the sale of the site, but will not exceed €30,000.

The scheme is managed and administered by local authorities on behalf of my Department. As no sites have fully completed the sale process to date in Meath, no claim for net recoupment has been submitted to the Department.

A review of the schemes under the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund, including the Ready to Build Scheme, was undertaken in 2024. That review has been completed and is under consideration.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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1081. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for details of any further delays experienced in the planning process for housing developments in Meath; the supports available to local authorities to streamline approvals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59102/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The operation of the planning system in County Meath would, in the first instance, be a matter for Meath County Council and under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended I am precluded from discussing individual cases that may or may not be delayed.

It should be noted however, that my Department has overseen considerable legislative and structural reform of the Irish planning system over the past two years.

The National Planning Framework (NPF) has been revised to reflect Ireland’s housing and infrastructure goals associated with a growing population and economy, and provides the planning system with a strategic plan to shape the future growth and development of our Country to 2040.

In addition, the Planning and Development Act 2024 (the Act) represents the most significant update of planning legislation in a quarter century and contains many impactful reforms.

The Act introduces statutory time periods for decision making for An Coimisiún Pleanála (An Coimisiún) for the first time. Increased resource allocation to An Coimisiún Pleanála has reduced the number of cases on hand from 3,638 in May 2023 to 1,362 cases in July 2025, which is a 62.5% decrease. The new Act also contains important reforms in relation to Judicial Review (JR):-

• removing the requirement to apply for leave to apply for JR, which reduces time and removes unnecessary legal costs to all parties.
• requires that an application for JR may only be made on the grounds of challenge raised by the applicant in the statement of grounds filed with their application.
• provides that an applicant for JR will not be permitted to plead a ground in JR proceedings unless they have a sufficient interest in the matter to which the ground relates.