Councillor criticises ‘paper exercise’ as DCC to rezone tracts of land for thousands of new homes
A plan to rezone large tracts of land for thousands of homes is a “paper exercise” that doesn’t address the root issues in the capital’s housing market, a Dublin councillor has said.
It comes as Dublin City Council (DCC) moves to rezone substantial sections of land around the city in order to make space for up to 35,000 additional homes, in the wake of fresh guidance from Housing Minister James Browne.
But Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said the government should instead address the bottleneck in housing delivery facing the council by increasing funding for staff in housing delivery.
"We’re willing, we’re able and we’re capable, but they need to give us the resources to deliver the housing, and that means architects, planners and project managers,” he said.
"The second thing is to encourage developers to develop that land. They’re sitting on that land,” he said.
Mr Doolan pointed to figures which showed that in quarter one of the year, planning permissions had been granted by DCC for more than 25,000 homes, but 14,701 of these had not commenced.
“What we’re saying is, give us the resources, give us the personnel. Remove your barriers and let us get on with the job, rather than trying to dazzle us with a paper exercise that may not deliver what is intended but will probably serve as a band aid for the government.”
He said government was reducing the housing debate to sound bites, instead of “rolling up their sleeves” and working with councils.
"If you look at their track record, if you take a step back for a minute, they hollowed out and shut down the tenant-in-situ scheme, which is a very practical way of actually developing housing, they pulled the plug on the PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) that were going to deliver several hundred houses in Dublin, so they’re actually working against us most of the time.”
DCC elected members are expected to vote through the first package of rezoning, the Baile Bogain (Ballyboggan) master plan, at a meeting this evening, which will be complete in the first quarter of next year.
A second tranche of 5,300 homes is also now set to be included in the 52-hectare Kylemore section of the City Edge urban quarter development, a partnership between DCC and South Dublin County Council, which will come before councillors by the end of the year.
This rezoning is expected to be complete in the first half of 2026.