State loses €80m on land development scheme brought in at height of recession

The Comptroller and Auditor General told the PAC on Thursday that the Housing Agency had attributed the lack of development to a lack of demand for social housing in the various areas and zoning constraints, with committee members curious as to why sites with zoning constraints were purchased in the first place. File picture: Denis Minihane

The State has lost €80m on a marquee land development scheme introduced at the height of the recession, with just 13% of projected homes delivered since 2010.

The Land Aggregation Scheme (LAS), managed by the Housing Agency, was charged with taking lands with troubled loans—resulting from sites not being developed as planned—off county councils in order to ensure their development.