Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 Feb 2003

Vol. 560 No. 3

Written Answers. - Housing Supply.

Ciarán Cuffe

Question:

440 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the measures he intends to take to prevent a group of landowners from controlling the supply and price of building land for housing within the greater Dublin area. [2522/03]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Cullen)

The Government is firmly committed to the continuation of the measures which we initiated in its previous term to increase the supply of housing. Our measures have led to record levels of house completions and there are strong indications that completions in 2002 will be in the region of 57,200 units – exceeding the record level of 52,602 units achieved in 2001. Over 287,000 units have been built since 1997.

This strong performance is particularly reflected in Dublin. I expect that house completions in Dublin will considerably exceed 10,000 units in 2002, thereby demonstrating that the funding and institutional mechanisms put in place by this Government are now having an impact on increasing housing output in Dublin.

There are also good indications for the future supply of houses in the Dublin and the greater Dublin area, GDA, as HomeBond registrations in 2002 increased by 85% in Dublin and 63% in the GDA. In addition, the amount of available serviced residential land has kept apace with the record level of house completions being achieved. The latest survey – June 2002 – shows that there is a more than adequate stock of serviced building land available throughout the country for residential development – there are currently over 12,200 hectares of serviced residentially zoned land nationally, with an estimated yield of 328,000 housing units. Dublin has about 2,300 hectares of serviced residentially zoned land with an estimated yield of about 96,700 units and the GDA has 3,500 hectares with an estimated yield of about 123,400 units.

With this information and the outstanding track record in house completions it is very difficult to credibly conclude that the supply of building land is being controlled. The overall objective of this Government is to continue to at least maintain these record levels of output in order to satisfy the projected housing demand. However, in this context, we will review as necessary the position, having regard to the need to maintain the excellent progress already made.