99. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department is taking to ensure that the delivery of large-scale housing developments is matched by the guaranteed provision of essential community infrastructure, including community centres, libraries, childcare and other local amenities; and whether additional funding or supports will be provided to areas experiencing significant population growth such as Belmayne and Clongriffin. [69336/26]

I will always support housing and building it, but in my constituency, the communities need to be built at the same time. Belmayne and Clongriffin have been developing for 20 years, yet residents are still waiting for basic infrastructure and services to catch up, and building is continuing at pace. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that major housing delivery is matched and funded with timely delivery of community facilities, healthcare, childcare, transport and other essential services?

I thank Deputy Heneghan for his important question about community supports for housing delivery. Planning for the provision of infrastructure and amenities is a core element of the statutory plan-making process. National policy objective 105 of the revised national planning framework sets out that the planning authorities and infrastructure delivery agencies should focus on the timely delivery of enabling infrastructure to priority zoned lands. At local level, the local authority development plan set out relevant objectives, policy support and development management standards for specific forms of development. All existing development plans are required to include objectives for the provision of infrastructure and the integration of the planning for sustainable development of the area with the social community and cultural requirements of the area and its population. The development plan's guidelines for planning authorities further specify that every development plan should include an objective to prepare a community, social and cultural infrastructure audit for areas likely to experience significant development.

Under the Planning and Development Act 2024, when preparing a new development plan, planning authorities will be required to prepare a strategy relating to creation, improvement and preservation of sustainable places and communities. This strategy must include objectives for the provision, improvement, extension and preservation of amenities, facilities and services to meet the social, community, recreational and cultural requirements of the area.

Planning authorities are required to consult with infrastructure and service providers as part of the plan-making process to help ensure that future infrastructure and service requirements are identified at an early stage. Furthermore, a planning authority may attach a condition to a grant of planning permission requiring the payment of a contribution in respect of public infrastructure and facilities that it is intended will be provided by or on behalf of a local authority. The provision of funding to support the delivery of community facilities and infrastructure falls within the remit of a number of Government Departments.

My Department has also established a housing activation office to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure required to support housing development. The office supports infrastructure development through initiatives such as the housing infrastructure investment fund. I also launched a towns and cities regeneration investment fund, which replaced the urban regeneration and development fund, to support such proposals.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Is é an fhadhb ná go mbíonn daoine ag bogadh chuig na háiteanna seo, ach níl an t-infreastruchtúr iontu. People are moving into these houses now, but those things are not there. They are told the infrastructure will come five or ten years down the road, but they are in their homes right now. In Clongriffin alone, hundreds of additional apartments are coming, which is brilliant because we need apartments, but the Land Development Agency also has 408 homes under construction in phase 1, with a further 711 proposed for phase 2. I and, I imagine, other local representatives have people contacting our offices who cannot get buses because they are full. The DART service is already under pressure and childcare provision is not keeping pace. I welcome the news, following engagement with the Minister for Transport, that changes are being made to the DART service. What mechanisms are in place to ensure that, when homes for thousands of people's are delivered, which I look forward to, services for the residents will be delivered at the same pace? The people who have contacted my office are not opposed to housing. They are asking that we build sustainable communities.

I hear Deputy Heneghan's concerns in relation to supports for communities where significant housing is being delivered. The provision of funding to support the delivery of community facilities and infrastructure falls within the remit of a number of different Departments. My Department established the housing activation office to ensure we accelerate housing delivery and also the necessary infrastructure required to support housing development. To that end, we are also providing significant funding for urban regeneration within communities to support regeneration infrastructure, public realm projects that facilitate housing delivery, and sustainable community development. A number of the issues touched on by the Deputy Heneghan, for example, in the area of transport, fall under other Departments and Ministers. I will relay the Deputy's concerns to the relevant Ministers.

We need to build healthcare centres and community facilities, but that will mean very little if we cannot adequately staff the services they provide. The Land Development Agency says Clongriffin, Belmayne and the neighbouring Stapolin lands have the potential for thousands more homes. Will the Minister work across government to ensure that the planned population growth is linked directly to funding for the workforce and planning for healthcare, gardaí, childcare, libraries and community services? My ask is very straightforward. The people of Belmayne and Clongriffin in the area I represent, after more than 20 years of development, are entitled to know where the other half of the bargain is. That means transport with enough capacity, childcare that is actually available, healthcare, community facilities and policing. I welcome that we are pushing housing. One of the biggest things we need to do is build more homes, but I ask that we plan the services needed in order that people can live sustainably and the services the residents have been waiting for are provided.

I hear the Deputy's concerns. It is very important that, where we are delivering housing, infrastructure and regeneration to support housing, community supports are also put in place, along with the additional supports that are required from other Departments. I will ensure we have a cross-government approach to this.