1703. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number and location of State-owned land parcels in County Louth that have been identified for housing development; whether he will ensure that appropriate portions of such lands are reserved for affordable housing to increase the delivery of affordable homes in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59882/26]

1704. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the proportion of State-owned land parcels in County Louth that have been allocated for affordable housing in comparison to social housing, in tabular form. [59887/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1703 and 1704 together.

Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 includes measures to support local authorities to acquire the necessary land required in order to meet social and affordable targets. As part of the measures Local Authorities have begun to update and provide details of their respective landbanks. The National Social Housing Data Map was established by my Department in conjunction with the Local Authorities to capture this data. Details provided include land available for both social and affordable housing.

Under the plan, each local authority, including Louth County Council, will prepare a Housing Delivery Action Plan (HDAP) setting out their planned delivery of social and affordable housing to 2030 in line with targets which will be set by my Department in order to ensure the 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable housing supports will be delivered by 2030. In preparing their HDAP, each local authority will reflect local need to ensure the right mix of homes to respond to need and priorities. Landbank details will be published as part of the HDAPs.

Existing HDAPs run to the end of 2026, and it is expected that new HDAPs, which will run to 2030, will be in place by Q4 2026. Each local authority's current HDAP is published on their website.

Where a local authority is seeking to deliver social housing, Exchequer funding is made available under the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP), and my Department provides 100% of these costs to local authorities including the site costs. Support from the Affordable Housing Fund is available to all local authorities to deliver affordable purchase and cost rental homes where an affordable housing need is evidenced.

In addition, the Land Acquisition Fund was established in 2022 to support local authorities to acquire land to deliver new build social housing schemes. and this was extended in 2024 to include land for affordable housing. To date, Louth County Council has not purchased land through this fund.

The table below indicates the number of potential units in each local authority according to The National Social Housing Data Map. This includes lands that are zoned residential or mixed use and are either fully serviced or partially serviced. It would be a matter for the individual local authority to confirm when these sites are likely to be brought forward for development as this level of detail would not be held by my Department.

Furthermore, the Land Development Agency (LDA) carries out certain functions regarding State owned relevant public land. Relevant public land is land owned by a relevant public body, being a local authority, or public body as listed in Schedule 1 and 2 of the Land Development Agency Act 2021, within a town the population of which is equal to or greater than 10,000 persons at the last Census.

In accordance with the Land Development Agency Act 2021, the LDA maintain a Register of Relevant Lands and furnishes to Government, at two yearly intervals, a Report on Relevant Public Land. The Register includes information regarding current use and any vacant status, and can be accessed via the LDA website at the following link: www.lda.ie/public-lands/register-of-relevant-lands.

The LDA published its most recent Report on Relevant Public Lands in April 2025, and this Report identifies a total of 102 parcels of State land as having potential to deliver housing-led development. Of the 102 sites identified, four are located within Louth - three located in Dundalk (Land adjacent to Langfield; bus depot, Ardee Road; ESB Networks, Avenue Road) and one located in Drogheda (Drogheda Quay). The Report is accessible here: www.lda.ie/public-lands/report-on-relevant-lands.