Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2026
699. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to set out the process whereby Fingal County Council was informed by his Department that it must remove green roofs from housing proposed for Malahide Road, despite the provision of such green infrastructure being an objective of policy at national, regional and local levels, and the reasons for those instructions. [34575/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra700. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency have been given to understand by his Department that they should not include green roofs in housing proposals. [34576/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 699 and 700 together.
My Department did not instruct Fingal County Council to remove green roofs or other green infrastructure measures from the proposed social housing development at Fingerpost, Malahide Road.
In 2025, Fingal County Council submitted a proposal to my Department for the development of four new-build social homes at the site, which also included a biodiversity pilot element incorporating green infrastructure measures. As part of the normal appraisal process for social housing proposals, my Department engaged with the local authority and raised a number of queries in relation to the proposal. These queries related, inter alia, to the appropriateness of the site for a pilot project, the overall cost per unit given that the additional costs associated with the biodiversity measures would be borne across only four homes, and whether the local authority intended to make a financial contribution or avail of alternative funding sources for the pilot element.
My Department indicated willingness to support and fund the construction of the housing units in line with the standard social housing approval process. However, the additional costs associated with the biodiversity pilot proposal were considered a matter for the local authority and any alternative funding streams that may have been available.
Fingal County Council subsequently decided to revise and resubmit the proposal without the biodiversity pilot element included and indicated that it would seek to identify a more suitable project on which to implement the biodiversity initiative at a larger scale.
More generally, my Department remains fully supportive of the incorporation of sustainable and green infrastructure measures in housing developments, consistent with national, regional and local policy objectives relating to climate action, biodiversity and sustainable urban development.
