The statutory role in relation to the provision of housing is vested in the local authorities in their capacity as housing authorities. Accordingly, consideration of the purchase of lands for housing is a matter for the relevant housing authority, rather than my Department, in the first instance.
The existing significant public land bank for housing is already being activated extensively through the investment of over €6 billion under the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, under which 50,000 social housing homes, which are key to addressing the challenges in relation to homelessness, are being delivered over the period 2016 to 2021.