Vol. 1088 No. 4
83. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the housing projects that are currently under construction in Kildare North and those which are expected to commence before the end of 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48233/26]
106. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his response to the latest monthly housing commencement figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48047/26]
169. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of housing commencements in Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48187/26]
My question concerns the key issue of housing and all the different types of infrastructure that go with it. I ask the Minister for the information on all the housing projects currently under construction in Kildare North and those expected to commence before the end of 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 106 and 169 together.
I thank Deputy Neville for raising an important question on housing projects currently under construction in Kildare North and those expected to commence before the end of 2026. My Department publishes data on residential commencement notices in each local authority every month. Commencement data shows commencement notices were lodged in respect of 2,099 new homes in May, more than double the 1,035 notices received in May last year. Commencement notices for 13,120 new homes were lodged from January to May this year, up 161% on the 5,033 notices received in the same period last year.
This progress is being mirrored across the country. In Fingal, some 1,623 commencement notices were lodged from January to May this year, over 11 times more than the same period last year. In Dublin city, 1,047 commencement notices were lodged, on par with the corresponding period in 2025. In Kildare, 439 commencement notices were lodged from January to May this year, up 40% on the same period last year. While it is not possible to predict when developments with planning permission will commence on site, some 1,406 planning permissions for new homes have been granted in Kildare in the last 12 months, to the end of quarter 1 of 2026, conveying an increasingly stable pipeline.
Increasing the supply of new homes is critical to alleviating pressures in the housing market, helping to moderate price growth and ease affordability challenges across the country, ensuring everyone has a range of housing options available to them, whether they want to buy a house, rent one, or are in need of social housing. In this regard, supply has increased significantly over recent years. Over the last five years, to the end of quarter 1 of 2026, almost 153,000 new homes have been delivered. This compares with 85,262 in the previous five-year period and just 29,278 in the five years before that. Delivering Homes, Building Communities seeks to build on this, and significantly accelerate delivery of new homes by focusing on activating land and creating the optimal environment to encourage housing activity, including regulatory reform, tax incentives and the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State, with €275 billion invested in infrastructure over ten years through the national development plan.
The Government is already implementing a host of actions to boost delivery. The recently revised national planning framework is a major step forward in this regard and will help to increase capacity and accelerate homebuilding across the country, while the new housing activation office, HAO, will work to address infrastructure barriers to housing delivery as a matter of priority. The HAO is taking a proactive and targeted approach to increasing housing commencements by focusing on the early identification and resolution of infrastructure constraints that can delay development and by co-ordinating investment across key delivery partners.
As part of this work, the Government launched the €1 billion housing infrastructure investment fund, HIIF, in January 2026, which is managed by the HAO and designed to ensure that essential enabling infrastructure is in place to unlock housing land. Under call 1 of the fund, I approved 82 projects last week. These projects have the potential to unlock land to deliver 86,000 new homes, with capacity for a further 113,000 homes over time. These projects range from local activation measures in towns and cities to larger strategic investments capable of supporting housing delivery at scale. The announcement I made last week represents the first step in building a pipeline of housing enabling infrastructure to support communities and housing delivery for many years to come.
Looking ahead, the housing activation office is actively developing future calls under the HIIF, building on the success of call 1 and strengthening the focus on strategic land banks and new communities aligned with public transport, along with broadening the range of delivery partners. Additionally, the Planning and Development (Amendment Act) 2025 is essential legislation to deal with expiring planning permissions and to encourage activation of housing. An enhanced Land Development Authority, LDA, is working to deliver more private housing, as well as social, affordable and cost-rental houses.
Increasing the number of new apartments being constructed is an essential component of the Government's housing ambitions, given the compact growth priority in the national planning framework. The new plan has taken decisive action to reduce the overall cost of apartment construction while increasing delivery in our urban areas. Budget 2026 introduced a suite of taxation measures aimed at stimulating the supply of new apartments, such as reducing the VAT rate on the sale of new apartments to 9%, and introducing an enhanced corporation tax deduction for apartment construction costs. My Department is also progressing the preparation of a draft national planning statement for the Government’s consideration to replace the current apartment guidelines. The overall purpose is to strike an effective regulatory balance, ensuring that apartment development meets the needs of society in terms of standards and quality, while promoting an increased level of overall output. Sectoral feedback and preliminary data on planning permissions and commencements suggests that the sector is responding positively to the renewed environment for apartment delivery. My Department continues to systematically monitor investment, planning and commencement activity in apartments to examine the pipeline for new apartments and inform ongoing policy consideration in this area.
The programme for Government commitments relating to housing are well reflected in the new plan and, combined with the unprecedented level of investment the Government has committed, will bring about a very significant scale-up in the delivery of housing over the coming years, address the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities, make buying and renting homes more affordable and support the development of villages, towns and cities across the country.
I thank the Minister very much for his response. I will go through the specific statistics relating to County Kildare afterwards. I thank the Minister for the information.
I welcome the announcement last week from the housing activation office and the Minister’s team. I also welcome the infrastructure we have in Kildare. The new bridge in Celbridge is an issue I raised when I was a county councillor in the context of the local area plan, and I have been pushing for the funding to be delivered since being elected to this House. It has now been delivered under the housing activation office. We also have the Maynooth outer orbital route, MOOR, the inner relief road in Naas and the roads in Confey. These projects are extremely welcome.
On the other hand, I am also conscious that we are struggling with Uisce Éireann, from the network perspective, to deliver water infrastructure. This is the case out around Prosperous, Robertstown, Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth, where we see regular burst water mains. While we are pushing for new houses, and I welcome that, at the same time, the infrastructure has to be able to meet that demand.
I agree with the Deputy. I thank him and all his Government colleagues for ensuring that County Kildare got a substantial amount of funding under the housing infrastructure investment fund that will, critically from the perspective of my Department and that of the Government, unlock housing. It will also, no doubt, help to unlock key community services as well. As the Deputy will be aware six projects in Kildare were approved. These include part of the Newbridge southern outer orbital relief road, the Naas northwest quadrant and canal quarter in Naas, the Naas inner relief road, the Captain's Hill upgrade in Confey, Leixlip, the Celbridge-Hazelhatch mobility corridor, and phase 1 of the MOOR at Crewhill in Maynooth.
The Deputy is also right, however, in relation to water infrastructure. In approving these types of funding under the housing infrastructure investment fund, we are using the housing activation office where we have Uisce Éireann and the ESB.
We are ensuring coherence such that where roads funding has been made available, we also have the electricity supply, water supply and wastewater treatment capacity to ensure housing is delivered in these key areas.
I thank the Minister. We are broadly aligned on infrastructure. The other key element of infrastructure is the social element, be it from a sporting perspective or related to the sports capital grants that will assist local sports clubs, and indeed local community groups, in which I am heavily involved.
Housing is about the delivery of infrastructure but also about the delivery of the associated strands, with which the Minister's team is currently heavily involved. Being from north Kildare and having been a councillor there for so long, it is the area I am most conscious of. The issue in Kildare speaks to many of the issues we all have, specifically on the eastern corridor but also in the growth areas in many major towns across the country.
The country is doing really well economically. It is very well run from a Government perspective, and we can see that. At the same time, however, we need to consider population growth and push, as the Minister is doing, towards further growth in housing and the infrastructure required.
Again, I thank Deputy Neville for raising important issues in County Kildare, particularly north Kildare, with which he is most familiar. The key infrastructure projects announced under the housing infrastructure fund are critical. It is also about working with ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann to ensure all the required additional capacity is put in place so the community facilities raised by the Deputy, be they crèches, sports facilities, schools or healthcare facilities, can also be put in place. We must have a co-ordinated approach. We are very much doing that through the Housing Activation Office. That is very important.
84. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to introduce measures to reduce cost-rental rents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47823/26]
What are the Minister’s plans to introduce measures to reduce cost-rental rents? Will he make a statement on this because cost-rental rents are too high and are locking thousands of people out of the rental market? The average rent for a three-bedroom house in Oscar Traynor Road is now €1,800. More and more applicants are being refused on affordability grounds. There are flaws in the model, which I will go into in my supplementary questions.
I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising what is an important issue, namely, measures to reduce cost-rental rents. The cost-rental model was first introduced under the plan Housing for All and it has been continued and significantly expanded under the new plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. It is designed to provide secure, long-term homes for households on moderate incomes at rents that are significantly below private market levels.
The cost-rental support schemes in the new housing plan are key measures in seeking to address affordability challenges in the rental sector. This is why, under the new housing plan, the Government has committed to growing the provision of affordable cost-rental properties across the country.
What has been achieved in this area in the past number of years is significant. Cost-rental housing did not exist in this country five years ago. From a standing start in 2021, and because of the actions of this Government and the unprecedented level of funding provided in successive budgets, almost 6,000 new cost-rental homes had been delivered up to the end of last year and a substantial pipeline is currently in place. This is supporting people on moderate incomes who would otherwise struggle to afford rent to move into good quality homes at rents they can afford. It provides long-term security of tenure, provides a home and gives people who avail of the schemes a chance to plan for their future.
We are only getting started. I am not for one moment suggesting that we have done enough. We must do more. Clearly, we are not yet at the stage of supplying enough cost-rental homes to meet the demand. We have more work to do to ensure that units are made available at rental levels that remain affordable and sustainable. This remains a key challenge and one that is a priority for me and my Department.
While this is a real success story, I am not resting on my laurels. The homes that have already been delivered at heavy discounts to equivalent private rental market rates are meeting real demand, are incredibly popular and are providing much-needed secure and affordable homes in the rental sector. I am providing substantial funding to local authorities, the Land Development Agency and approved housing bodies to support cost-rental delivery. Since the introduction of the tenure in 2021, approximately €2.25 billion in departmental funding has been approved for cost-rental projects.
I thank the Minister for his response. There are a couple of questions I want to ask. Has the Minister any plans in relation to all the fragmented subsidies that exist, like those related to the secure tenancy affordable rental investment scheme, STAR, and cost-rental equity loan, CREL, and the local authority funds. Does he have any plans to merge these?
I also want to ask about barriers to delivering cost rental at scale and whether consideration is being given to extending the repayment period of the CREL loan. This is something that has been raised with me by approved housing bodies, AHBs, because we have had incidents recently where some AHBs were pulling cost-rental developments. They are saying they are struggling because of the requirement for the rent to sit 25% below the market rate, yet rents are already high enough and need to come down.
I thank the Deputy again for his question on cost rental. As I have already pointed out, approximately €2.25 billion in departmental funding has been approved for cost-rental projects since 2021. In addition, significant loan financing is being made available through the State's Housing Finance Agency. Also, the reduction of VAT on new apartments to 9% under budget 2026 is playing an important role in reducing costs. All of these supports lower the net cost of delivery, enabling more cost-rental homes to be delivered and ensuring more affordable rents for tenants.
My Department's funding comprises non-repayable grants, equity investments and long-term loans at very low interest rates, which enable rents to be set below full cost recovery levels. As a result, cost-rental homes can be provided at rents that are significantly more affordable and considerably lower than comparable rents in the private market. Cost-rental homes provide a significant saving for the tenant, and I am aware that tenants who benefit are very appreciative of both the rents and the security of tenure the homes provide.
To push back on that a bit, while cost-rental rents are somewhat lower, being on average about 30% lower than rents in the private rental market, they are still far too high. A market rent in Dublin of €2,300 still means €1,725 a month.
Will the Minister consider the length of time AHBs have to repay the CREL loan? That will answer some of the issues they have. Furthermore, will he consider decoupling our cost-rental model from the open market down the line and tying it entirely to underlying financial costs of delivery by amending the 2021 Act? When building costs and long-term maintenance rise, rents set at 25% below market rate cannot generate enough revenue to cover the actual cost of housing. This has forced bodies to scrap projects. We need to move away from the explicit linkage between initial cost rents and prevailing market rates.
Again, I thank the Deputy for his question. If you have a pure cost model, you will have very significant variations in what the cost-rental rent will actually be. We have taken the approach of trying to ensure consistency below market rent values. A 30% discount below market rent value is a significant deduction, albeit in circumstances where rent is high, which I acknowledge. However, if we decouple and go purely with a cost model, based on the cost of providing the apartments, we could have apartments beside each other that could have very different rents based on very different costings. In some cases, there could be a reduction in the discount. That would provide a level of inconsistency and a lack of equity in the approach. That is where we have taken the view and approach we have taken, setting the rent based on the market rather than the cost inputs.
85. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures he is taking to address rent increases in Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48101/26]
What measures is the Minister taking to address rent increases in Kerry? We recently saw a three-bedroom house in the town of Tralee with an asking price of €2,400 per month.
In the public sector, increased rents are being asked for by local authorities. However, because services have been stripped from the local municipal district, in houses 11 to 16 in Mountain View in Balloonagh Estate in Tralee, sewage is backing up and coming into the houses and the local authority does not even have a jetting machine to allow it to address the issue. It is reliant on contractors who are coming in from other areas to address the issue. That is not fair when people are continuing to pay their rents.
I thank the Deputy for his question about addressing rent increases in Kerry. As he will know, the key to solving the housing crisis, which includes homelessness and high rents, is through increased supply. That is why the Government is providing record funding towards the supply of homes. It is also why we are taking emergency measures to address the delivery of homes.
We are also taking other measures. As the Deputy will be aware, under the housing infrastructure investment fund, we announced significant funding for County Kerry only last week for additional housing. My understanding is that those projects are shovel ready and will be ready to move quickly. The Lohercannon distributor road, L6715 Ashgrove Road and link road directly unlock lands for 450 residential units and indirectly unlock a further 788 homes, with an indicative cost of under €10 million. The Killarney strategic links and new transport link between the N22 Killarney and bypass and the R876 Park Road directly unlock lands for 500 residential units and indirectly unlock a further 581 residential units, at an indicative cost band of €10 million to €20 million. This shows our commitment to Kerry and to delivering additional houses in the county, not just through funding housing delivery but also ensuring the infrastructure is put in place, working with the ESB and Uisce Éireann, to ensure that the other capacity measures go through with it.
Affordability is central to the Government's housing policy under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, which targets the delivery of 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable homes. The Government is committed to tackling high rents and ensuring an increase in the supply, as I say, of affordable, high-quality rental accommodation through continued significant capital investment, including cost-rental, affordable purchase and social homes, in a manner that respects the security of tenure for renters by ensuring equity and fairness for tenants and landlords. On the topic of the delivery of more social homes, last year we built the highest number in the history of the State. That also frees up properties in the rental market to help control prices.
There might have been the highest number built in the history of the State, as the Minister said, but it happened at a time when the population was way higher than it was in the 1960s and 1950s. The Minister said the answer is to increase supply but, unfortunately, what we have seen is an awful lot of extra houses in Adamstown and on the quays in Dublin. The supply in County Kerry is way behind. The result is that renters in Kerry have seen increases in the region of €3,000 annually, which is a 26% jump. It is a body blow for people whose rents are increasing when, unfortunately, their wages are not increasing by the same amount to match those increases.
If current tenancy trends continue, the average tenancy will be three and a half years, with 25% of tenancies being new each year. The vast majority of renters in the private sector will be swept into this market reset. The problem is that people in County Kerry are on waiting lists. They are waiting for supply for ten, 12 and sometimes 14 years. The town councils still have not been restored and the guaranteed increase in supply is not there. People are waiting and rents are increasing because supply is so low.
I thank the Deputy. We are making significant funding available to increase the numbers of social and affordable housing. I encourage the Kerry local authority to maximise the use of the available funding to deliver social homes and affordable purchase homes across County Kerry. The Department will not be found wanting in supporting an increase in the supply of homes. The key to challenging high rents is, as I say, supply. That is not just the supply of private homes. We must also ensure that more social homes are built. As I say, that moves people who are availing of the housing assistance payment, HAP, for example, into social homes and frees up properties in the private rental market. That will help to address availability and affordability. All of these measures are interconnecting.
I am conscious that rents are too high. I am conscious that people are struggling to find properties to rent and that is why the Government is providing record funding to address the housing crisis not just on the east coast but in every county across this country.
Unfortunately, I have not heard the Minister say anything about what needs to be done. Does the Government have any plans to cut rents? Has it plans to ban increases or protect the renters who are faced with big rent increases? The Minister has not mentioned anything about students. They are going to have to pay the market rent from September. That is another tax on their education. We all know that Munster Technological University, MTU, in Tralee and other colleges around the country do not have the power to borrow and are not building their own accommodation, which could be more affordable.
The Minister mentioned the affordable homes scheme but there are practically no affordable homes in Kerry. It is ridiculous to talk about the affordable homes scheme in Kerry because there are none. There was practically zero emergency accommodation in 2011 but there are now huge amounts, catering for approximately 14,000 or 15,000 people. Since the town councils were abolished, there has been a concentration of emergency accommodation in Tralee, which is creating an imbalance.
Everywhere that the Government has tried to address housing it has made a hames of it, for people starting off in life and those at the end of their days in nursing homes.
We want Kerry County Council to provide more affordable purchase homes. The Department and Government would support it. Those homes are essential. I want everybody, across the spectrum, to be able to get the homes they need in their own local community, whether through private purchase, affordable homes or social housing. It is essential that everybody can access a home. Affordable purchase is essential for people who are on lower incomes but incomes that are above the social housing thresholds to be able to get that permanent home. I want the local authority in County Kerry to provide more affordable purchase. The Government is, as I say, providing record funding. We have built record numbers of social homes. We have also built a record number of cost-rental homes. All of this is about driving supply to address the crisis. Every home built helps to alleviate that, no matter what its tenure.
86. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department will increase funding for the local authorities financial contribution scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47945/26]
99. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps being taken to support the development of age-friendly housing within existing communities, allowing older people to remain close to family and services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47608/26]
I raise with the Minister the financial contribution scheme whereby local authorities acquire houses from over-60s at market value. In return, one third of the net proceeds of sale are given to the local authority and the senior citizens get a local authority unit and pay a differential rate on same. There are significant benefits for the economy and the overall housing situation. Those getting older who have empty nests get to offload significant responsibility and the cost of maintaining a house that has outgrown their needs. They usually move into a local authority senior citizens' unit which has the benefit of a liaison officer. Are there any plans to expand the scheme and put it on a statutory basis?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 99 together.
I thank the Deputy for bringing up this important issue. I do not know if Deputy Boland is here.
The Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, aims to deliver 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable housing supports by the end of 2030. To achieve this, the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State has been secured in 2026, with in excess of €9 billion in capital funding through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities includes measures which will increase delivery of housing for older people through increased delivery of social housing, increased delivery of more suitable homes, choice in private housing and increased choice to support voluntary rightsizing. Government is committed to increasing housing available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence, and to supporting rightsizing on a voluntary basis.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities also includes a commitment to develop an action plan on delivering housing for older people and this plan is currently under preparation. A number of local authorities are operating financial contribution schemes. However, these are non-statutory and there is no national scheme in place. In line with a commitment in the Delivering Homes, Building Communities, my Department is undertaking a review of the operation of existing local authority financial contribution schemes. Policy responses will be developed on foot of the findings of this review, which is currently under way.
The work under way at the moment is with the Housing Agency to advance a review of the financial contribution schemes operated by some local authorities.
As part of the Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan, which follows on from a commitment in the programme for Government, we have a specific action, that is, to review the operation of existing local authority financial contribution schemes. To advance that work, we have commissioned a body of work from the Housing Agency, which will specifically look at it. It will engage with the local authorities and come back to the Department with a report on this issue of financial contribution schemes.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities will also increase choice for older people who voluntarily right-size by advancing the availability of bridging finance to support right-sizing. As I already mentioned, this includes a review of the operation of existing local authority financial contribution schemes and supporting social housing tenants who wish to voluntarily right-size to more suitable accommodation. The Department is already progressing these actions to support older people who choose to voluntarily right-size, ensuring choice for older people seeking to move to more suitable accommodation or to right-size in place.
As part of the work being progressed, I am pleased to welcome the recent positive announcement by the Central Bank that it is amending the mortgage measures to exempt certain types of bridging loans from the loan-to-income limit that applies to lending for principal home purchases. This will assist in supporting voluntary right-sizing where older people choose to purchase a new home prior to concluding the sale of their existing home. I specifically met the Central Bank on a number of occasions with Department officials to ask it to look at this issue. It came back with this and I hope it will assist. In simple terms, if older people wish to move to a smaller, more suitable home of their choice and it becomes available prior to their home being sold, they will be able to apply to the banks for bridging finance and the issue of the loan to income ratio will not be a factor. It will be based on the asset and they will get the loan for up to 18 months, to allow them to move, if they wish to do so, on a voluntary basis.
From 2020 to 2025, the Department has provided almost €180 million of capital assistance scheme, CAS, funding for older people's housing, delivering a total of 592 units for older people, providing purpose designed, age-friendly homes. I look forward to Deputy Brabazon's response.
The scheme, as the Minister of State said, is non-statutory and it operates erratically. It is subject to funding being available in local authorities. Sometimes it is available and sometimes it is not and it is difficult as a public representative to be able to advise constituents who are in the over-60 age bracket on this, when the availability of the funding is intermittent and in some cases non-existent.
We are in a housing emergency. We should be putting the scheme on a statutory basis and resourcing it so it is available throughout the year. This would have the effect of providing an increased supply of available housing to the market, which is the stated aim of the Government and the Minister of State's Department. Along with the local authority and AHB supply of senior citizens' accommodation with planning for retirement villages, this could free up significant numbers of houses for private and social housing. This would help young couples to acquire freed-up housing. Therefore, I urge that whatever measures are being taken be expedited.
I thank the Deputy for his considered response. It is a matter he has raised and is committed to. The measure is in the programme for Government. It is a specific action under delivering housing for older people. I committed to doing work on that even prior to the action plan being finalised. A review is currently under way by the Housing Agency on behalf of the Department of the financial contribution schemes operated by local authorities. It will interact with local authorities and, once the review has been completed, the policy response will be developed in response to the findings identified in the research. I want to do it on a structured basis. I note the points the Deputy raised. It is a priority in the older persons section of Delivering Homes, Building Communities to look at the issue the Deputy raised.
I thank the Minister of State. I welcome what he said but I ask him and his officials to light a fire under it and get it moving as quickly as possible so the new policy framework can be delivered as quickly as possible.
Once again, I thank the Deputy for his contribution. A body of work is under way, as I stated, following on from defined actions under housing for older people section of Delivering Homes, Building Communities. We have committed to a review of the operation of the existing local authority financial contribution schemes and to have it as a real, evidence-based, substantive body of work. We commissioned the Housing Agency to look at it in great depth. As the Deputy said, some local authorities have been operating such a scheme, some have not and we want to look at it in the round. When we receive that research from the Housing Agency, we will consider it in depth in the Department. There is a reason it is in the new housing plan. It is because we want to look at it.
91. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm the number of housing completions in Cork in 2025; the number of homes completed to date in 2026 in Cork; the number expected to be completed by the end of 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48241/26]
I thank the Deputy for the question. It is good to see some focus on housing delivery in the rebel county. Increasing the supply of new homes is critical to alleviating pressures in the housing market, helping to moderate price growth and ease affordability challenges, ensuring everyone has a range of housing options available to them, whether they want to buy a house, rent one or are in need of social housing.
Data on new dwelling completions are published by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, on a quarterly basis. CSO data show overall housing delivery in Cork has significantly increased in recent years. Some 3,722 new homes were completed in Cork last year, an increase of 5% year-on-year and the highest annual delivery since the CSO data series began in 2011. This momentum continued into the first quarter of 2026, with 1,047 new homes completed, up 45% year-on-year, and again the highest first quarter completion figure since the CSO data series began.
While the Department does not forecast new housing completions in any given year, delivery in 2026 is likely to be strong. The Department is monitoring any headwinds to ensure we buttress supply into 2027 and 2028 appropriately as new measures under Delivering Homes, Building Communities bed-in over 2026 to enable delivery of at least 300,000 new homes by 2030. We will do this by focusing on activating land and creating the optimal environment to encourage housing activity, including regulatory reform, tax incentives and the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State, with €275 billion invested in infrastructure over ten years through the national development plan.
The unprecedented level of investment the Government has committed will bring about a significant scale-up in the delivery of housing over the coming years, while also supporting the development of villages, towns and cities. While it is important to acknowledge the significant challenges ahead, it is equally important to highlight that a continued level of intensity of effort will be ongoing to reach the scale required to meet our shared goal of 300,000 new homes by 2030.
I thank the Minister of State. As the Minister of State will be aware, being from Cork, the reason I am raising this is that the number of new jobs being created in Cork is increasing every month and, therefore, the need for additional accommodation needs to be highlighted. We need to try to fast-track that housing. Cork City Council and Cork County Council are working hard with people making applications for housing and on developing and completing housing units.
In the areas outside the city, in the villages where there are challenges with sewage treatment, can some of those projects be fast-tracked so development can proceed? I am talking about such places as Courtbrack, Grenagh, Carrignavar, Glenville and Whitechurch. They cannot progress unless the services are available. What does the Department intend to do to highlight that issue?
I thank the Deputy. He makes a valid point on employment in the county, and it is a key challenge. If you take not just the tech and pharmaceutical sectors but also CUH, which is such a big employer, many of the incredible team of nurses, doctors and other staff need access to housing. That is a challenge we have to address but we are doing so. There are key ways that the Minister in particular has directed travel in the last number of months. The city and county development plans are being reviewed at the moment and going through their public consultation phase. That needs to accelerated so appropriate land can be zoned, and with that investment will come. The private sector is responding well to apartment buildings through the incentives there. Housing activation funding for Cork has been very generous.
On the question about villages and towns, Uisce Éireann, as far as I can see, is really building capacity and increasing investment in those villages and towns to deliver wastewater treatment.
On the issue of sewage treatment in villages, we still do not have a clear plan from Irish Water as regards access to services, including water services. For instance, in Whitechurch lorry loads of water have to be brought in every day because there is a well servicing the housing units there and it is not able to deal with demand during the summer months. It is likewise with Courtbrack. There has been a boil water notice in place there since September of last year and there is no indication from Irish Water as to when that issue will be resolved. Again, the situation is that a well is servicing all the housing estates there. Is there any plan to have a direct link between the main water schemes in the city or county to service those areas?
I thank the Deputy again. He raises a very important and relevant point, especially for our smaller towns and villages. This is where, as I was saying at the end of my last contribution, the significant investment announced by the Minister of almost €12 billion under the national planning framework and national development plan will allow Uisce Éireann to build capacity with respect to personnel and the funding of major infrastructure projects as well. Outside that there is capacity and we have heard of recent developments on the developer-led infrastructure that will allow developers to put in place their own wastewater infrastructure, where appropriate or up to a certain number of houses. That is obviously to be done in close collaboration with the EPA to ensure there are no legacy issues there. That is an exciting development for a few reasons. It allows a lot of those villages and towns where wastewater treatment is at capacity to expand and see people move in, which is key.
115. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will take immediate steps to strengthen local democracy by reconstituting boroughs or corporations similar to the structures that once operated; and if he will consider Kilkenny city as a pilot project. [48286/26]
I raise Kilkenny city and the status it has had since the 1609 charter, granted by King James, which established it as a city with a mayor. It survived Cromwell but it did not survive the recent local government legislation that reduced it from a city to a borough. That particular move has not worked fully for the citizens of Kilkenny city.
I thank Deputy McGuinness for raising the very important issue of strengthening local democracy and also seeking the reconstitution of boroughs or corporations similar to the structures that existed previously. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved 80 town councils, which represented about 14% of the population, including Kilkenny Borough Council. A lot of these were their own separate legal entities and this gave significant strength and control to local authorities and also allowed people to have a very strong say in what was happening in their towns and cities. The previous town council system, it is alleged, also led to duplication in administration and electoral terms, something I think is questionable. Instead, the Act saw the introduction of 95 municipal districts representing 100% of the population in 25 of the 31 local authorities at sub-county level, while area committees would operate in the three city authorities of Cork, Dublin and Galway, and the three Dublin county authorities. These local areas, of course, are not councils. Each municipal district can include several towns and villages and their hinterlands, with local matters dealt with at a municipal district level and wider strategic issues decided at the county level. The result is an integrated administrative structure in each county that maximises operational efficiency while ensuring devolved decision-making throughout the county.
Nonetheless, the Deputy will be aware of my view and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, that councillors have seen a reduction in their powers. We want to see a rebalancing of powers towards them to ensure they can hold the officials in our local authorities to account and can ensure their towns and cities are being delivered for in a fair and equitable manner. That is why the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and I established the local democracy task force, which was a key commitment in the programme for Government, in July 2025.
If the Minister asks anyone in Kilkenny city or, I am sure, in his town of Wexford, he will be told the best structure of democracy they had - in Kilkenny's case since 1609 - was the corporation or the borough council. The stripping of that title is depriving people of a pride they had in that office, the office of mayor and the office of those who were elected to serve the citizens of, in this case, Kilkenny. I am asking the Minister to go back to the drawing board and to understand that a seven-person borough committee as part of Kilkenny County Council replacing the borough simply does not function and removes a huge positive connection between a city and its administration and the people they represent. It is not good enough that that would not be revisited and re-established.
We have given this considerable consideration on the local democracy task force. The Deputy is right that my town lost its council and it diminished the representation at the time. The local government task force was established to build on the considerable body of work previously undertaken by the AILG - which represents councillors - the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Seanad Éireann. The local democracy task force presented its final report to me on 4 March 2026 and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and I will be bringing this to Government over the coming weeks. This will strengthen our local democracy and the powers of our local councillors.
I wonder who the task force asked. I am aware it asked elected representatives, possibly, for their input and view but what about the people who are demanding it - the citizens we say we represent here? They are demanding something very different, not just accountability and transparency, which much be improved. They are asking for direct access to local democracy where decisions are made that affect their lives. They are asking for direct input through their public representatives about budgets that are passed, which also affect their lives. They are asking that history be examined and that the place for the likes of Kilkenny city would be acknowledged and that the role it plays in the lives of the citizens of that city would be acknowledged. I hope when the Minister reviews that document he will review the public demand in Kilkenny for the status of a city. I hope he will also have an input in the decisions and reflect on what I have said.
I agree that direct access to local democracy is absolutely essential and that is what the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and I will be ensuring through the local democracy task force and our input. That connection will be reconnected through empowering our local councillors to hold the local officials to account. It will also mean that where representations are being made by local people, they can effect those changes and also be able to communicate those changes to people when they are happening.
We are fully in alignment in terms of re-empowering our local democracy by giving direct access to local democracies, local people and local councillors. Myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, will achieve this through the local democracy task force and the implementation plan that will follow.
