Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
1199. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the availability of building lands in the ownership of each local authority nationally; the extent to which these lands are serviceable and available for utilisation as serviced sites for eligible applicants or direct build local authority houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1736/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI refer to my reply to Question No. 49 on today's Order Paper which broadly sets out the position in relation to this matter.
Moreover, while the development of residential land in local authority ownership is in the first instance a matter for the individual authority concerned, including its elected members, I am determined to ensure that new social and affordable homes are delivered from the public land bank without delay, with particular emphasis on prioritising those sites with the greatest potential to deliver housing at scale, in the short to medium term.
Given the priority of the strategic development of the local authority land bank, all local authority residential sites were mapped on the Rebuilding Ireland land map, which is available at the following link on the Rebuilding Ireland website, http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/rebuilding-ireland-land-map/. The map includes details of over 700 local authority and Housing Agency owned sites amounting to some 1,700 hectares, and local authorities have been requested to update the map on a quarterly basis.
The active management of these lands and the wider publicly owned land bank is one of a range of complementary actions being progressed under Rebuilding Ireland and the recently established Land Development Agency will increasingly play an important role in this regard.
All local authorities are being funded to significantly increase their delivery of social housing as part of the Rebuilding Ireland programme and a strong social housing construction pipeline is already in place for local authorities and approved housing bodies. A detailed breakdown of the social housing construction programme is set out in the Social Housing Construction Status Report which is published on a quarterly basis. These reports provide information on the construction programme underway for each local authority area. The report covering the period up to end Quarter 3 2018 is available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-quarter-3-social-housing-construction-report/. The report for Q4 2018 is currently being prepared.
In terms of affordable housing, a targeted approach is being pursued to support local authorities. To this end, I have provided additional funding for enabling infrastructure via the Serviced Sites Fund. Under Budget 2019, a total of €310 million will be provided for this purpose over the course of 2019 to 2021. I approved the first tranche of funding under the Fund on 11 December 2018, through which some €43 million in funding is being provided to facilitate the delivery of some 1,400 affordable homes in Dublin and Cork . A second call for proposals will issue shortly.
The combination of this Fund and the significantly increased funding for the social housing programme will open up more significant opportunities for larger mixed-tenure developments and my Department will continue to engage proactively with local authorities to accelerate the delivery of these projects.
