The Land Development Agency’s (LDA) almost 600-home development at Shanganagh Castle, Co Dublin, will serve as an “exemplar” for many more similar schemes from the agency in the years ahead, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said.
The scheme is the agency’s first direct-build development on publicly owned lands. Almost half of the 597 homes are ready for occupation on the new development near Shankill, Co Dublin. It is a mix of affordable, cost-rental, and social homes.
This is the biggest project undertaken by the LDA since its establishment in 2019. The project has been done in conjunction with Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council In all, 281 A2-rated homes have now been completed under the first phase and will now be offered to potential purchasers and tenants: 195 on the cost rental model; and 86 affordable homes.
Cost-rental homes will be available from €1,175 per month, which is 25 per cent less than market value. The affordable homes will sell at €334,000 for a two-bedroom and about €380,000 for a three-bedroom. Council chief executive Frank Curran said the median price for a similar house in the county was €650,000. Buyers of affordable homes can also avail of State schemes, such as Help to Buy.
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There will be about 200 social homes in the development when completed. A Dart station is being built nearby to serve the new population.
“Shanganagh Castle is an exemplar,” said Mr Harris. “This is the model we need to see roll-out right across this country at great speed to help meet the housing needs of our society.”
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At the launch, Mr Harris and Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien emphasised what they portrayed as the success of the LDA model on which much of the Government’s housing policy depends. The performance of the agency will be a central debating point in the forthcoming election, as the main Opposition party Sinn Féin wants it abolished and absorbed into two new agencies.
“We have delivered, as a Government 116,000 homes up to July this year,” said Mr O’Brien.
LDA chief executive John Coleman said 18,000 homes were now in the pipeline for the agency and between 6,000-7,000 would be on site by the end of 2025. The LDA, he said, has resubmitted planning permission for 934 homes at the site of the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
In a response to the launch, Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the Coalition and LDA were “disingenuous” in terms of the prices being stated publicly. He claimed that because prices were linked to market value and not to cost of delivery, both the rents and the State share of equity would be higher. He surmised the larger three-bedroom homes could have State equity of up to €170,000 and the rent for larger homes could be €1,800 per month or more.
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