Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
497. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the capital budget for cost rental is fully allocated for 2026; if additional resources will be made available to support AHBs with the purchase of additional cost rental apartments that will be delivered in the Dublin area in 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32029/26]
View answerUnder Budget 2026, announced on 7 October 2025, my Department is allocated an overall budget package of over €11.2 billion, comprising €7.2 billion in capital funding and €4 billion in current funding. As part of this, the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme has an allocation of €575m capital funding for 2026 for delivery of cost rental homes by Approved Housing Bodies.
109 projects have been approved for CREL since its inception in 2021 to date, with anticipated cumulative delivery of just over 8,000 homes by the end of 2029, and associated state funding from my Department of some €1.8billion. In the four Local Authority areas in Dublin alone, 2,401 homes have been delivered since the inception of CREL to the end of 2025, with a further 2,738 homes projected for delivery in 2026 and 2027 cumulatively.
The 2026 funding allocation provides support to AHBs both in respect of the capital commitments relating to the delivery of these ongoing projects, and also in respect of further projects to be approved this year. Approvals under the scheme are continuing.
Applications for CREL are regularly received by my Department from the Housing Agency and as such the assessment and approval of applications on hand is continual. Details of proposals awaiting approval cannot be released due to reasons of commercial sensitivity. However, my Department can confirm that it continues to work with the AHB sector to deliver cost rental homes at scale under the Cost Rental Equity Loan Scheme.
