Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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20. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on the development of a single stage approval process for local authority housing developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65670/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government – Securing Ireland’s Future committed to introducing a new single approval process for all standardised social housing and affordable housing projects.

Delivering Homes, Building Communities, An Action Plan on Housing Supply and Targeting Homelessness, has a Priority to deliver an average of 12,000 new social homes per annum from 2025 to 2030. In support of additional social housing delivery the Department will streamline the processes by introducing a new single stage approval for all social housing projects where the project value is less than €200m and will mandate the use of standard house layouts and specifications as part of the new approval process.

On 5 July, Cabinet approved the introduction of a single stage approval process for all for local authority and Approved Housing Body new build social housing up to a value of €200 million.

The new single approval process, which will replace the 4-Stage approval process, is designed to align particular requirements related to the delivery of social housing, providing a more seamless approval process, with a clear and intentional focus on embedding standardisation and value for money.

This new process will cover all social housing new build and major refurbishment projects up to a value of €200 million, funded via the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) incorporating regeneration and remedial works schemes, and the Approved Housing Body (AHB) Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS).

The new approval process mandates the use of a standardised design approach, as per my Department’s published Design Manual for Quality Housing and the Employer’s Requirements for Detail Design of Quality Housing, for all new build social housing projects being developed by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies.

Engagement with Local Authorities and the Housing Delivery Coordination Office in the Local Government Management Agency has been underway since Q2 this year via a Sector Working Group dedicated to the single approval process.

The process is in transition phase at this time and my Department is finalising the necessary guidance notes, templates and documentation that will issue to the sector in the coming weeks, with an expected full rollout of the new process by the end of 2025.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the engagement between the housing activation office and local authorities in Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65584/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government recognised the need to accelerate home building by unblocking infrastructure delays and coordinating investment in servicing zoned land.

To support this, I established a Housing Activation Office in my Department to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure needed to service zoned lands and enable housing development.

Senior specialists from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the local government sector have been seconded to my Department to support the work of the Office.

The team are actively engaged in identifying barriers to housing delivery and coordinating with local authorities and relevant infrastructure agencies to address these barriers.

As part of this process, representatives from the Office have met officials from Galway City Council and Galway County Council on a number of occasions over October and November to get an overview of lands zoned for housing and the infrastructure needed to unlock housing at these locations. Members of the HAO team also attended the Housing Delivery Word Café event hosted by Galway City & County Council and my Department on the 12th November 2025.

I will bring forward a €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund in the coming months that will support direct investment in housing enabling infrastructure at a local level. This fund will be designed to complement investment by infrastructure agencies, such as Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks, as part of a more coordinated approach.

Once the fund is launched, local authorities, including Galway City and County Councils, will be invited to submit applications for funding to support the delivery of infrastructure projects that enable housing development.

The support provided by the Housing Activation Office will play a critical role in assisting the Galway Councils in meeting their housing targets under the Revised National Planning Framework.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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22. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the supply line for social homes; the number which are currently at various stages of design and construction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65635/25]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update of social housing output to-date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65486/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 55 together.

The Government is committed to increasing social housing delivery and the focus of the social housing programme is on increasing the number of new-build homes.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis on social and affordable housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to the end of Q2 2025 and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website (www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/).

These figures show that from the beginning of 2020 to the end of Q2 2025, over 35,000 new homes have been delivered under social housing build programmes.

In the first six months of 2025, 1,804 new build social homes were delivered. This is an increase of almost 54% on the same period in 2024 (1,174).

In Q1 and Q2 2025, 320 social housing acquisitions were delivered and a further 270 homes were delivered under leasing. In total, 2,394 new social homes were delivered in Q1 and Q2 2025.

There is a strong pipeline in place that will ensure further significant delivery of social homes. The latest Social Housing Construction Status Report shows that 26,684 social homes were at various stages of design and construction at the end of June 2025, with 11,557 social homes onsite and an additional 15,127 homes at design and tender stage.

The Construction Status Report provides details of social housing developments and their location that have been completed, are under construction or are progressing through the various stages of the design and tender processes. The current and previous versions of the CSR are published on my Department’s website (www.gov.ie/en/collection/cb885-social-housing-construction-projects-status-reports/). A version of the CSR file can also be downloaded for analysis by local authority, location etc. on Open Data ().

Data for Q3 is currently being compiled.