67,000 homes could be built on State land, says Land Development Agency
The LDA says 'meaningful progress is possible' with some of the more difficult-to-release lands it has considered. It says several 'clearly deliverable plots' have emerged upon investigation. Picture: Denis Minihane.
There is potential to build up to 67,000 homes on State-owned land — but less than 10,000 can be delivered within the next decade.
A new report from the Land Development Agency (LDA), to be presented to Cabinet on Tuesday, says that up to 66,910 homes could be built across 83 pieces of land owned by State bodies.
However, just 9,760 of them are deemed to be on land listed as being of ‘Class 1’ potential — that is capable of being developed in the near term, or between five and ten years.
Such delivery would be contingent on the lands being “released quickly for development”, says the agency.
The remaining 57,000 homes are slated for land which is subject to significant “constraints”, such as being in use for another purpose.
Those 58 areas of public land would be “more challenging to deliver”, according to the report, and would likely not be developed for more than 10 years.
Details of the LDA report have emerged as the Government prepares for a no-confidence motion on the back of its decision to end the eviction ban.
The LDA figures would appear to be at odds with what Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien told the Dáil at the launch of the legislation behind the agency in 2021, which was that lands in State-ownership could provide housing for roughly 114,000 families.
The LDA says “meaningful progress is possible” with some of the more difficult-to-release lands it has considered. It says several “clearly deliverable plots” have emerged upon investigation.
The new report, which the LDA is mandatorily required to produce, examined lands in Dublin, Cork City, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford, together with five regional centres at Drogheda, Dundalk, Athlone, Letterkenny, and Sligo.
The report, which covers 75% of the State land available that is eligible for housing development, is to be considered by Cabinet on Tuesday morning.
State bodies in ownership of the various lands include the HSE, the OPW, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), Bord Gáis and the ESB, Ervia, CIE, and the Department of Education.
Of the 63,000 homes earmarked for the five cities, 35,100 of them are in Dublin and 16,100 in Cork.
The biggest development in the capital considered to be Class 1 is on land owned by the HRI at Carrickmines Little in Leopardstown, which could yield up to 2,080 homes.
A second potential large-scale development is earmarked for Sheriff St with the potential for 800 homes on land owned by CIE in the environs of Connolly Station.
Some 14 of the lands considered are in Cork City, though just 1,230 of those homes on three of those properties are considered to be Class 1.
The lands classified in that manner in Cork are at Estuary Drive, the Cork County Council Depot on Farranlea Rd, and a parcel of land adjacent to the property of Gas Networks Ireland on Rockboro Rd.
The sole such plot noted in Limerick City is on the property of Gas Networks Ireland on the Dock Rd, with the potential for 190 homes.
Two developments are suggested for Waterford on the sites of two car parks, at Bolton St and Waterside, with a maximum potential delivery of 170 homes between the two.
Meanwhile, the Dáil will debate a Government motion of confidence in itself on Wednesday, a counter to a Labour Party motion of no-confidence. The Coalition is expected to survive the vote but will continue to face pressure over its decision to end the eviction ban, which will lapse in a matter of days.
The Coalition still holds the majority in the Dáil and it is expected some Independent TDs will vote with the Government. However, on Monday night, some opposition TDs were contemplating how they would vote and were considering Sinn Féin's legislation to extend the eviction ban until January 2024.
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