Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
153. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the PPP bundle 3 and 4 sites in Dublin north-west, including an updated timeline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17492/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraOn 3 June 2025, after careful evaluation, my Department decided not to proceed to contract award for Social Housing Bundle 3 — including Dublin North-West sites in Ballymun and Whitehall — due to excessive costs. Although this decision faced Judicial Review, the Department resolved the proceedings efficiently, preventing significant delays and allowing an alternative procurement strategy to advance.
Dublin City Council with 3 sites and Kildare County Council with one site in the original Bundle 3 have been working with the NDFA, to advance these sites as a bundle through a Design and Build procurement, leveraging the PPP tender packages and designs.
I have provided funding approval for these four sites through the Social Housing Investment Programme - SHIP. This project is referred to as Project Barrow.
Project Barrow Pre-Qualification Questionnaire Tenders have been returned and are currently being reviewed. Following on from the pre-qualification phase tendering of the Pricing and Programme phase will commence this month. Contract award is projected by the lead local authority to be in October 2026.
A review of Bundles 4 through 7 confirmed that the traditional PPP structure would yield similarly high costs. To ensure expeditious delivery of homes on the 28 sites impacted, I have approved a recommendation to deliver the 2,981 homes associated with these 28 sites by way of Local Authority direct delivery.
Dublin City Council is responsible for eight of the sites, originally in PPP Bundles 4 and 5, including locations in Ballymun, Collins Avenue, and Finglas. All eight sites already have planning permission.
DCC are now advancing all of these sites through a new Design and Build Framework.
The Prior Information Notice has been issued for the formation of these Frameworks and the tendering process will commence in the coming weeks to include 4 of the PPP Bundle 4 sites.
Moving forward, I have instructed my officials to continue to evaluate all delivery methods and funding models in order to ensure that the output of new build social homes can be maximised and delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible.
