205. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the work of the Housing Activation Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37515/26]

The Housing Activation Office (HAO) continues its work to drive the coordination and acceleration of critical infrastructure required to unlock housing on sites nationwide. The office is focused on identifying and resolving infrastructure constraints, aligning investment across agencies and progressing infrastructure projects that will unlock housing lands and accelerate the delivery of housing.

Since its establishment, the HAO has undertaken engagement with various stakeholders, including ongoing engagement with the 31 individual local authorities and LDA. The office is maintaining structured engagement with various stakeholders, infrastructure providers and key delivery partners.

The Housing Activation Delivery Group and the Housing Activation Industry Group have met twice since November 2025 and will continue to meet on a quarterly basis to strengthen coordination and ensure that momentum across infrastructure and housing delivery is maintained.

On 21 January 2026, the Government launched a new multiannual €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF) to support direct investment in housing enabling infrastructure. The Housing Activation Office in my Department manages the fund.

The core objective of the HIIF is to unblock infrastructure constraints and activate lands that are identified for housing development. By investing directly in transport, water, electricity and other enabling infrastructure, the fund will ensure that land is properly serviced and ready to deliver homes.

Call 1 of the HIIF opened for applications from local authorities and the Land development Agency (LDA) on 21 January 2026 and closed on Friday 27 February 2026. Applications have been received from local authorities across the country and from the LDA.

The Housing Activation Office team is actively reviewing all applications received against the scheme criteria and recommendations will be brought forward shortly in accordance with the governance arrangements for the fund. As this process is ongoing I am not in position to comment on any specific application.

My Department will continue to develop the HIIF and intends to broaden its scope in 2026 to include a wider range of public and private sector delivery partners. The primary aim is to build a rolling programme of investment that addresses obstacles to the delivery of housing.

The initial focus of the Housing Activation Office has been on local activation, and the focus will now broaden to include a more strategic phase of work. This includes the identification of larger and more transformative infrastructure investments that are required to support housing delivery at scale.