Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 April 2026
137. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans and timeframe to review housing supply targets arising from Census 2027 plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29173/26]
View answerHousing supply targets were provided to local authorities in connection with Ministerial Guidelines issued under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, following the initial publication of the National Planning Framework (NPF) in 2018.
The revised National Planning Framework (NPF) was approved by Government and both Houses of the Oireachtas in April 2025 and to ensure that local authority development plans reflect the requirements of the NPF in respect of housing as soon as possible, I issued the NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in July 2025.
These Guidelines, which replaced the previous Guidelines and ‘housing supply targets’, set out the housing demand scenario to 2040 for each local authority by translating the NPF housing requirements into average annual figures and require planning authorities to commence the process of varying their development plan to meet the new housing growth requirements.
Planning authorities are currently undertaking a review of the adequacy of existing zoned lands in their functional area and a process of development plan variations to cater for the new Housing Growth Requirements and the potential for ‘additional provision’.
The Planning and Development Act 2024 (‘the Act’), Part 3 of which was commenced in October 2025, includes a provision which ties the NPF review process to the census cycle, with the requirement that the NPF review follows the publication of the final results of the census:
Section 22 (2) of the Act states that “Each review shall be completed before the expiry of a period of 2 years, which period shall begin on the date of publication, by the Central Statistics Office, of the final results of the second occurrence of a census of population of the State held after the completion, in accordance with subsection (6), of the previous review.”
Following the publication of the final results of Census 2027, there will an opportunity to evaluate and consider a review of the National Planning Framework, including any associated updated housing requirements, in accordance with section 22 of the Act.
