Ministers have issued a warning to local authorities over the pace at which they are revising development plans as part of efforts to help accelerate housing supply.
The State’s 31 city and county councils have been told there is “serious concern” in central government on progress in implementing guidelines sent out last summer which were aimed at ramping up housing delivery.
In a letter sent last Friday, Minister for Housing James Browne and Minister of State for Local Government John Cummins, councils were told to complete the process of including new housing growth requirements in their plans by the end of June.
It warned that the Government’s Cabinet committee on housing would “monitor progress” and “consider other actions that the Government may take to address the urgent need to deliver housing”.
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Councils chiefs were also told they may be invited to offer updates to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and other members of the cabinet committee.
[ Local authorities told to zone more land for housing, as national target more than doubles ]
At a press conference last Wednesday, Browne said Mayo and Waterford had completed variations to local development plans.
However, he said he was “very concerned about a number of local authorities who really are not stepping up to the mark” when it came to “rezoning sufficient lands that are needed for homes to be built on”.
“If local authorities are not going to provide the land for homes to be built on, the Government will have to take some serious measures and they are being examined at the moment,” he said.
In response to a query on what measures were under consideration, a statement from the Department of Housing said: “The Minister and Government wish to consider all options that may be available to ensure that adequate land is zoned for housing at the earliest opportunity.
“This includes, but is not limited to, measures legislated for in the Planning and Development Act 2024.”
In Friday’s letter, Browne and Cummins said housing growth requirement guidelines were issued to local authorities last July and all councils were “requested to commence the process of revising and varying development plans as quickly as possible to ensure that the new housing growth requirements are incorporated”.
Following this there was a further letter in December on “the critical need for development plans to be updated to reflect the increased housing requirements arising from the revised National Planning Framework (NPF), given the urgency of the housing crisis”.
The ministers said that seven months after the original request “it is a matter of serious concern to the Government that your local authority has not demonstrated the necessary progress on the implementation of the guidelines”.
“Where some local authorities have commenced a variation process, the pace at which these matters are being progressed is not sufficient given the urgency of the situation, apart from in very limited circumstances. Of even greater concern, a significant number of local authorities have not yet commenced a variation process,” they said.
The ministers said they were writing “to remind you of the need for collective responsibility to address the urgent housing requirements of the country, having regard to your obligations under the Planning and Development Act to ensure that sufficient and suitable land is zoned to accommodate the allocated population and housing growth targets, and with an instruction to address these matters immediately”.
