Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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682. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total amount of land zoned for residential use in each local authority area; the number of homes this land could support; and whether this supply is sufficient to meet the delivery targets set in Delivering Homes, Building Communities. [63960/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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683. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether Cork City Council and Cork County Council have zoned sufficient residential land to meet the housing targets allocated to the region; and if not, what actions will be taken to ensure compliance. [63961/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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688. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of hectares of fully serviced residential land available for immediate development in each local authority area; and the actions planned to increase serviced land availability where shortages exist. [63966/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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691. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether the quantity of zoned, serviced, and infrastructure-ready land nationally is sufficient to support the delivery of 303,000 homes to 2030; and if not, the estimated shortfall and the actions planned to close it. [63986/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 682, 683, 688 and 691 together.

The local authority Development Plan is the principal planning strategy document which sets out the relevant policies and objectives to guide the physical development of each city and county over a six-year period and is required to be consistent with the NPF and the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.

Through the Development Plan, planning authorities include relevant objectives, policy support, as well as identifying suitable locations, for such various purposes through the zoning of land for a range of uses. The 31 local authority development plans include maps, which are published online, to identify which lands across the city or county are zoned for particular uses, including for the purposes of developing housing, and in each case, land is required to be identified for these purposes. The statutory development plan, including zoning objectives, forms the basis for decision making within the planning system. Currently, local area plans (LAPs) may also be prepared for individual settlements or areas within the local authority administrative areas, and may include zoning objectives. The relevant development plans and local area plans may be viewed on the website of each local authority.

In relation to the specific issue of land use mapping and housing, it should be noted that a nationally standardised approach to urban land use mapping has been in place for many years. All land use plans prepared by local authorities, as outlined above, are also aggregated into a standardised national map (available on www.myplan.ie) using a classification system - the Generalised Zone Type (GZT). This standardised system was developed specifically for the Myplan.ie project and represents a consistent scheme for categorizing land use zonings across all local authorities, and complement the existing statutory zonings used for each individual plan.

To ensure that local authority development plans reflect the requirements of the recently Revised National Planning Framework (NPF) in respect of housing as soon as possible, I issued the NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines 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 average annual figures and set out the requirement for planning authorities to commence the process of varying their development plan to meet the new housing growth requirements.

In addition to the baseline housing growth requirement, planning authorities have also been requested to address the scope for additional provision of up to 50% in excess of the baseline housing growth requirement, in light of the urgent need to increase housing delivery and to optimise the ability to deliver on the housing requirements of the Revised NPF. This approach recognises the fact that, for a variety of reasons, a relatively significant proportion of zoned lands are not activated over the period of a development plan.

Planning authorities including Cork City Council and Cork County Council are currently assessing their current development plans and undertaking a review of the adequacy of existing zoned lands to cater for the new Housing Growth Requirement figures and the potential for ‘additional provision’. Several local authorities have already commenced a process to vary their development plan to provide additional zoned land.

In due course, local authorities will be required to begin the process of preparing 10 year development plans under the relevant provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2024, which is being implemented on a phased basis. These 10 year plans will also be required to take the updated planned housing growth requirements arising from the Revised NPF into account.

As part of the process for identifying land liable to Residential Zoned Land Tax, a measure which applies to lands that are zoned for housing and are considered to be ‘serviced’ as defined in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended), all local authorities published annual draft maps on 1 February 2024 that identified lands considered to fall within the scope of the tax, as well as lands which they propose to exclude from the annual final maps for 2025. Landowners and other interested parties had until 1 April 2024 to make a submission to the relevant local authority about whether or not land on this annual draft map meets the criteria for being subject to the tax. Further to determinations relating to these submissions and any related appeals to An Coimisiún Pleanála, the maps were finalised and a final map indicating land liable to the tax for 2025 was published on 31 January 2025, in advance of the tax coming into effect on 1 February 2025.

Overall, circa 46,300 hectares of land comprising residential and mixed use including residential zonings are identified on the maps. Under the legislation, local authorities are required to publish the total area of land in hectares contained on their maps.

It should be noted however that a significant quantum of the overall land included on the maps is land that is zoned for existing residential development and is occupied by existing housing, including housing estates. Where a residential property is subject to Local Property Tax (LPT), the relevant land is not liable for RZLT, which excludes a significant amount of the 46,300ha from liability to the tax. The table below breaks it down by Local Authority:

I have also established a Housing Activation Office in my Department. The team comprises senior and experienced staff from within my Department, in addition to senior specialists seconded from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the local government sector.

The Office is actively engaged in identifying barriers to housing delivery and is coordinating with local authorities and infrastructure agencies to address these barriers. This includes engagement with the 31 City and County Councils over a series of meetings scheduled across September and October to gain an understanding of key housing sites and infrastructure requirements across each area.

In the coming months I will be bringing forward a €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund under the National Development Plan to support direct investment in critical housing infrastructure. This new fund will operate alongside existing investment programmes such as the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund and the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, which will work with the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund to support housing activation and urban regeneration.

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.

Building 300,000 new homes will require a sufficient pipeline of available land, including the land available for development identified above. As set out in Delivering Homes, Building Communities, Government will take action across a range of areas, including, from a planning perspective ensuring that a sufficient quantum of zoned and serviced land is available for housing development in line with the National Planning Framework and updated Housing Growth Requirements issued in July 2025. In addition, a greater level of certainty in relation to the planning process and timelines for decision making will be achieved through the introduction of statutory timelines for decision making for all types of planning applications and appeals in the Planning and Development Act 2024 and the provision of additional resources within the statutory planning system.