Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 October 2025
592. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department is evaluating to deliver higher density housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54809/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraNational Strategic Outcome No. 1 of the National Planning Framework (NPF), which was first published in 2018 and revised in 2025, relates to ‘Compact Growth’, a core objective of the strategy, which seeks to address the impacts of sprawl that characterised Ireland’s patterns of development in recent decades.
In support of the NPF ‘compact growth’ objectives, the ‘Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements, Guidelines for Planning Authorities’ were issued as Ministerial Guidelines in January 2024, under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended). Section 28 provides that planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála shall have regard to Ministerial Guidelines and shall apply any specific planning policy requirements (SPPRs) of the Guidelines, within the meaning of Section 28 (1C) of the Act of 2000, in the performance of their functions.
The Settlement Guidelines state that to achieve compact growth, it will also be necessary to increase the scale of new buildings in all parts of our cities and towns, with highest densities at the most central and accessible urban locations, particularly in city centres and close to public transport nodes and interchanges. The SRDCSGs contains density ranges that respond to settlement size (e.g. cities, towns and villages) and general locality in each settlement (i.e. central areas, urban neighbourhoods and suburban areas/areas of urban extension).
Fulfilling the objectives of the NPF and Settlement Guidelines will require a substantial increase in housing output of all types, and need a renewed focus on the delivery of apartments, particularly in city and town centres and areas accessible by public transport. The delivery apartments is particularly challenging and there is a considerable gap between the cost of building an apartment and comparable market prices. Increased costs also present an ongoing challenge to the delivery of social and affordable housing schemes.
The ‘Planning Design Standards for Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities’ were issued under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) in July 2025. The Apartment Guidelines include policies relating to apartment mix/typologies, space standards, dual aspect ratios, floor to ceiling heights, stair/lift cores, and amenity spaces. The overall purpose of the Guidelines is to reduce costs and 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 output overall.
To give greater effect to the Apartment Guidelines and facilitate the expedited construction of permitted apartment developments, the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2025 inserted a series of amendments into the Act of 2000 to enable a streamlined modification process for existing uncommenced planning permissions for apartments. This amendment will allow the holder of an existing permission to apply to local authorities or An Coimisiún Pleanála for a certificate to make a limited number of modifications to the permission where such modifications are made in accordance with the SPPRs in the new Guidelines.
Under the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2024, Ministerial Guidelines will, over time, be reviewed and replaced, as appropriate, with National Planning Statements (NPSs). In the interests of clarity all existing guidelines will continue to have effect until such time as they are replaced by an NPS or revoked.
The Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme supports the building of apartments in urban cores for sale to owner-occupiers. The Scheme aims to activate the supply of units which otherwise would not be delivered due to viability challenges by providing funding support to bridge the current "Viability Gap" between the delivery cost of building apartments and the market sale price (where the cost of building is greater).
Since the Scheme launched, four calls for Expression of Interest have been completed. To date, 13 developments, delivering over 1,600 apartments have been approved. This represents a funding commitment of roughly €200m. The Housing Agency continues to assess remaining applications under the previous calls. Details of the approved schemes are available on the Housing Agency website: [Croí Cónaithe (Cities) | The Housing Agency] (www.housingagency.ie/CroiConaitheCities).
Furthermore, the Land Development Agency is also targeting 8,000 new homes over the course of the Project Tosaigh market engagement and partnership initiative, and is currently on track to deliver 5,000 new homes to eligible households by the end of 2026.
There is a commitment in the Programme for Government that a new, all of government, national housing plan to follow Housing for All, underpinned by multi-annual funding will be published.
The new plan will provide the strategic framework to support the delivery of 300,000 new homes during the period of the Plan and identify actions to support a more sustainable housing system moving forward.
The plan will take a whole of government approach, as Housing for All did, and my Department has been engaging across Government to agree the high-level measures that will be included.
A programme of targeted stakeholder engagement has been undertaken. Written submissions have been received from across Government and from a range of external stakeholders including state agencies, the community and voluntary sector, industry and academics. These submissions have been carefully considered.
I have also met with many stakeholders to hear first-hand what actions they think should be reflected in the Plan.
In addition the outcome of the National Development Plan Review in July 2025 will be reflected in the Plan, which provided for records levels of capital expenditure by Government on infrastructure including housing.
The new Housing Plan will be published shortly.
