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Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Questions (370)

Eoin Ó Broin

Question:

370. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated impact of voted expenditure for Vote 34, subhead A33, Croí Cónaithe, which amounts to €50,000,000 for 2022 in respect of the general government balance. [18146/22]

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Written answers

The Government’s “Housing for All, a new Housing Plan for Ireland”, launched in September 2022, sets out four pathways to a sustainable housing system. A key objective is that everyone in the State should have access to a home to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard and in the right place, offering a high quality of life.

The new Croí Cónaithe fund as outlined in Housing for All, is intended to ensure that, aligned with the objectives of the National Planning Framework, additional choices are made available to home buyers in our urban cores, and town centres.

In higher density locations, the number of apartments being built for sale poses a challenge. There is a high level of unactivated permissions, particularly for apartments, in our urban areas. A Croí Cónaithe (Cities) fund is being established which, through a competitive bid process, will seek to deliver developments at a viable cost for sale to owner occupiers, targeted principally at activating the planning permissions already in place for such homes over the coming five years. The fund will be managed by the Housing Agency on behalf of my Department. My Department is working with the Housing Agency in finalising the operational basis for the new fund and expect to engage prospective proposers in a call for proposals in the near future. Different challenges arise for facilitating owner-occupation in towns, where viable sites available for building of new homes are in short supply. There is significant potential for local authorities to support homeownership in these areas by making available serviced sites at a reduced cost or providing support towards the refurbishment of vacant properties where the level of vacancy or dereliction is high. A pathfinder programme will be initiated as part of a Croí Cónaithe (Towns) fund, to facilitate the making available of some 2,000 sites for homes by 2025. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is currently under consideration and it is expected that a call for proposals will issue to local authorities shortly.

The specific General Government Balance impacts of Exchequer Investment from the voted expenditure provision for both schemes is a matter that would fall to be determined by the Central Statistics Office.

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