Irish state-owned land has potential for more than 60k homes, report finds

A report of a long-awaited review from Ireland's Land Development Agency was received by the Cabinet on Tuesday, March 28 that said there are 83 state-owned sites with the potential for up to 67,000 homes in the medium to long term.

Most are in the cities of Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford and could be used to construct thousands of homes.

The agency believes that 9,760 of the homes identified in the report could be delivered in the next five to 10 years.

The sites with the greatest potential include property owned by Horse Racing Ireland at Leopardstown in Dublin where more than 2,000 homes could be built.

A site owned by Gas Networks Ireland on the Dock Road in Limerick, lands at Galway Harbour along with a site in the possession of the ESB on Sarsfield Road in Cork City could be used to build thousands of social and affordable homes.

Land around the Bus Depot at Dublin’s Conyngham Road and a Central Bank site at the Mint in Sandyford in Dublin, along with land at the North Docks Bus Depot in Waterford, were also viewed as suitable for housing.

The report from the Land Development Agency follows a statement last weekend by Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik to her annual conference that her party would aim to provide one million homes over the next decade.

Bacik said “new thinking” is now needed on the housing crisis.

The government last week survived a Sinn Féin motion demanding that a ban on evictions from homes be extended until January next year.

The ban, introduced during lockdown, is due to end on March 31, leaving many thousands of families at risk of eviction. Many say that in Ireland’s housing crisis, they cannot find replacement accommodation and they face homelessness.

On March 29, the Irish Government defeated Labour’s no-confidence motion by 86 votes to 67.

*This column first appeared in the March 29 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.