Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 December 2025
335. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the actions taken to ensure alignment of zoning, serviced land, water capacity and planning permissions with the 12,000-unit annual social housing target; and if he will provide any internal reports or delivery forecasts assessing this alignment. [68746/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Revised National Planning Framework (NPF) was finalised and approved by Government and the Oireachtas in April 2025. The Revised NPF identifies the need to plan for approximately 50,000 additional households per annum to 2040.
The Revised NPF provides the basis for the review and updating of Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) and local authority development plans to reflect such critical matters such as updated housing figures or projected jobs growth, including through the zoning of land for residential, employment and a range of other purposes.
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 set out the housing demand scenario to 2040 for each local authority, by translating the NPF housing requirements into average annual figures and set out the requirement for planning authorities to commence the process of varying their development plan to meet the new housing growth requirements.
In addition to the baseline housing growth requirement, planning authorities have also been requested to address the scope for additional provision of up to 50% in excess of the baseline housing growth requirement, in light of the urgent need to increase housing delivery and to optimise the ability to deliver on the housing requirements of the Revised NPF. This approach recognises the fact that, for a variety of reasons, a relatively significant proportion of zoned lands are not activated over the period of a development plan.
Planning authorities are currently assessing their current development plan and undertaking a review of the adequacy of existing zoned lands to cater for the new Housing Growth Requirement figures and the potential for ‘additional provision’.
The zoning of land for particular purposes, including housing, is an exercise undertaken by planning authorities as part of their overall statutory plan function generally as part of a development plan under sections 9 to 13 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended), but can at present also be carried out as part of a local area plan (LAP) process. The making of a development plan or an LAP is a reserved function of the elected members of each authority.
The Housing Needs and Demand Assessment provides evidence-based insights into housing needs across all tenures analysing demographic trends, affordability data and housing stock pressures. This framework allows local authorities to make informed decisions about future housing requirements. Following a comprehensive Housing Needs and Demand Assessment, all local authorities developed and published their Housing Delivery Action Plans setting out their plans to deliver social and affordable housing during the period from 2022-2026. Updated Housing Delivery Action Plans will be developed by each local authority in 2026 to outline delivery of social and affordable housing out to 2030.
