Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 March 2026
330. Deputy George Lawlor asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of land zoned and serviced for residential development in Galway City and County Galway; the estimated housing capacity of such land; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21122/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe local authority Development Plan is the principal planning strategy document which sets out the relevant policies and objectives to guide the physical development of each city and county over a six-year period and is required to be consistent with the NPF and the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.
Through the Development Plan, planning authorities include relevant objectives, policy support, as well as identifying suitable locations, for development for various purposes through the zoning of land for a range of uses. The 31 local authority development plans include maps, which are published online, to identify which lands across the city or county are zoned for particular uses, including for the purposes of developing housing, and in each case, land is required to be identified for these purposes. The statutory development plan, including zoning objectives, forms the basis for decision making within the planning system. The relevant development plans and local area plans may be viewed on the website of each local authority.
In relation to the specific issue of zoning for residential purposes, it should be noted that all land use plans prepared by local authorities, as outlined above, are also aggregated into a standardised national map (available on www.myplan.ie) using a classification system - the Generalised Zone Type (GZT). This standardised system was developed specifically for the Myplan.ie project and represents a consistent way of categorising land use zonings across all local authorities, however it does not replace or alter the specific zonings within the statutory development plans adopted by each local authority.
As part of the process for identifying land liable to Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), a measure which applies to lands that are zoned for housing and are considered to be ‘serviced’ as defined in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (as amended), all local authorities published annual final maps on 31 January 2026 that identified land liable to the tax for this year.
Overall, circa 46,400 hectares of land comprising residential and mixed use including residential zonings are identified on the maps. Under the legislation, local authorities are required to publish the total area of land in hectares contained on their maps. Of this 2,380ha of land is located in the administrative areas of Galway City and County Councils.
The table below shows the Galway City Council and Galway County Council breakdown:
|
Local Authority |
Final RZLT Map for 2026 |
|
Local Authority |
Final RZLT Map for 2026 |
|
Hectares (approx.) |
|
|
Galway City |
1,116 |
|
Galway County |
1,263 |
It should be noted however that a significant quantum of the overall land included on the RZLT maps is land that is zoned for existing residential development and is occupied by existing housing, including housing estates. Where a residential property is subject to Local Property Tax (LPT), the relevant land is not liable for RZLT, which excludes a significant amount of the 46,300ha from liability to the tax.
It should be noted that Galway County Council recently adopted a variation to the development plan in response to the issuing of the NPF Implementation: Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines in July 2025, and Galway City Council recently commenced a variation process. As such, the relevant local authority websites should be consulted for the most up to date position in respect of zoning, and the annual updating of RZLT draft and final maps by the respective local authorities will reflect the status of zoned and serviced lands.
