Taoiseach pledges €2.5bn housing fund boost for Land Development Agency

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he felt 'pure anger' when he heard about a judicial review being taken against new guidelines on apartment designs. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The Land Development Agency (LDA) is set to get a further €2.5bn to finance it out to 2029, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed.

Mr Martin also confirmed that the Government is engaging with banks to encourage them to lend more to small builders.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Martin said the extra funding to the LDA would give it the capacity to become the State’s largest builder by 2028.

“This is a significant development. This gives certainty,” Mr Martin said. “The whole idea of this was to give them certainty that they can go out and do stuff and not be caught at the end of that period [2029].”

The Taoiseach said there are more than 27,000 homes in the LDA pipeline at present.

Meeting with banks

It comes as he said yesterday that he was to meet with the banks later that day, as part of efforts to increase financing for small builders.

The Taoiseach said he wants to see banks provide financing for smaller builders “at affordable rates”.

“I did meet the banks a number of months ago on this, this is a follow-up,” Mr Martin said. "There’s been lots of interaction between my officials, the Department of Finance, and Paschal Donohoe’s officials and James Browne’s officials with the banks."

He said the meeting is to “try and get a package agreed” with the banks and possibly the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF).

Homelessness

On homelessness, Mr Martin was reluctant to provide a date for when the number of people in emergency accommodation will fall.

“What I’m more interested in is, it’s a bit like hospital waiting lists," he said. "It’s not the number on the waiting list, it’s how fast you get treated.

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“Ideally we want to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place, but then if they do get into emergency accommodation, how fast can we get them out.”

Mr Martin said he was "very concerned" about the number of children in homelessness.

Apartment guidelines

The Taoiseach also hit out at a judicial review being taken against new guidelines on apartment designs.

Earlier this month, a High Court case was taken by former Irish Times environment editor Frank McDonald, and a number of councillors.

Mr Martin said he felt “pure anger” when he heard about the case, saying it has moved from projects being challenged in the courts to regulations themselves.

“There’s certain people out there who are endeavouring to paralyze every aspect of Government decision making," he said. 

We’re in an emergency in the respect of housing — young people need houses.

“We’re doing the right thing and again, you know, it’s been snarled in a JR [judicial review].”

Mr Martin said there are different types of accommodation for different parts of society, adding that apartment standards in London have “killed the London apartment market”.

Pressed about the argument that apartments will become smaller and darker, Mr Martin said there needs to be volume delivered.

“The amendment of the standards isn’t catastrophic at all," he said. 

"I mean, there will be, for a certain part of society, it’ll welcome those types of apartments. We need volume. We’ve grown enormously in population terms. We need different types of accommodation, sizes, and so on.

“It can be perfect for the minority, but there’s a lot of people out there who can’t get access to accommodation at an affordable price for either to rent or to buy.”