Building Your Future
Delivering The Homes You Need
- Since being returned to Government, housing has been the unrelenting focus of Fine Gael.
- Over the past ten months, we have introduced a series of reforms to speed up the delivery of housing.
- This includes zoning more land, reforming arbitrary design apartment standards and implementing tax changes to boost supply.
- These measures will have tangible benefits and will lead to a significant increase in construction of homes for families throughout the State.
- Fine Gael is the party that made infrastructure a key theme in the last election because we cannot unlock housing supply at the pace and scale we need without speeding up delivery.
- Fine Gael prioritised maintaining and extending supports for first time buyers when other parties wanted to whip them away and this plan affirms that.
- Simon Harris has been focused on targeting child and family homelessness and this plan has a new fund to address this and new measures on the allocation of social housing to ensure families waiting longest are prioritised.
- Fine Gael through John Cummins has been working towards practical solutions that can offer families flexible housing options and this plan advances that.
- Fine Gael through Kieran O’Donnell has been working on delivering housing choice for older people and this plan delivers a range of actions in this area.
- This plan cements the foundations put in place over recent months and outlines 5 key areas of priority.
-We will deliver 300,000 Homes including 90,000 starter homes backed by a Budget of €36 billion. We will deliver on average 12,000 social homes every year over the lifetime of this Plan
-We will remove the blockages to the delivery of housing through the Housing Activation Office as well as law changes around judicial reviews.
-Capitalising the LDA with a further €2.5 billion to deliver more homes across the country.
-New €1 billion Infrastructure Investment Fund – to support the work of the new Housing Activation Office to address project barriers and unlock sites.
-Accelerate the delivery of new Urban Communities such as Adamstown and Clonburris.
-We are zoning more land for development and tracking this zoning by local authorities to ensure sufficient land is being brought forward
-We have cut the VAT to 9% for apartment delivery to make development more viable and deliver higher density apartments
-Delivering 90,000 Starter Homes
-Expanding the role of the LDA to deliver more Starter homes
-Retain and enhance the Help to Buy Scheme to ensure more people can buy their own home
-Support home ownership through extension of the First Home Scheme and extend to vacant and derelict properties
-We will revise planning criteria in rural area to support people to build on land in their towns and villages and surrounding areas.
-Progressing innovative methods of building homes through Modern Methods of Construction in the residential sector to reduce costs, improve quality and deliver more quickly
-Fine Gael is providing housing options for people with allowing modular-style homes in back gardens without needing planning permission
-We are incentivising local authorities who will meet their housing targets to ensure they are delivering for their communities
-We have changed the rules to allow developers deliver new standalone wastewater treatment plans to speed up housing supply in towns and villages
-We are significantly funding An Comisiun Pleanala so they have the resources to speed up decision making on major housing and infrastructure projects
-We will incentivise Local Authorities who exceed their social housing targets
-We are giving Certainty and protection to renters through national rent controls
-Greater protection for renters through the introduction of statutory timelines for the RTB to ensure renters get a resolution to their dispute quickly
-Publish a rent price register
-We are also strengthening the regulation of the short-term letting sector to bring back homes into the private rental market
-We are empowering local authorities to tackle vacancy and dereliction in our towns and villages giving them powers to bring back 20,000 homes to the housing market
-Expansion of the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant to support over 20,000 homes being brought back to use and introduction of a new “Above the Shop” top up Grant.
-We are introducing a new Derelict Property Tax which will be collected by Revenue. This will be a tax on property owners that fail to engage with local authorities to remove their property from dereliction
-Empowering local authorities to CPO vacant and derelict buildings
-Extending the Living City Initiative to include residential properties built before 1975 with a new category of tax relief to support the use of “over the shop” premises for residential purposes.
-Increasing provision of homes suitable for older people
-Creating more choice for older people through a review of the planning exemptions for those who wish to convert their homes into separate living spaces
-Supporting rightsizing through bridging finance
-Dedicated €100 million fund in 2026 for the acquisition of second-hand properties to support the exit of families longest in homeless emergency accommodation
-We providing €563 million in homelessness services to build on the almost 9,000 prevention and exits from emergency accommodation last year
-Social housing delivery by local authorities will be accelerated through a standardised design and single stage approval process
-We will develop a new action plan to prevent and exit families out of emergency accommodation
-Remove barriers for victims of Domestic violence to support them moving to a safe home
