Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-07-15
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I move amendment No. 10:
In page 4, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following:
“(3) The strategy referred to in subsection (2) shall allow for the zoning of land for the particular use of providing affordable housing as defined in Parts 2 and 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021.”,”.
The amendment relates to Ireland's planning system, which has long prioritised market-led housing delivery. It introduces a necessary rebalance towards public interest planning where local authorities can proactively designate land for homes that meet socioeconomic needs and not just market profitability. By anchoring zoning authority in statute, the amendment strengthens the legal basis for local authorities to ring-fence land for affordable housing and it protects councils from external pressures to rezone land for higher value and often speculative uses. Zoning for affordable housing enables the delivery of integrated communities not segregated by income. It helps meet the real housing needs of workers, families and young people, a demographic we can acknowledge is increasingly shut out of the housing market. The Affordable Housing Act includes both affordable purchase and cost rental models. Zoning lands specifically for these can be de-risk delivery for approved housing bodies and enable direct build by local authorities and State agencies such as the LDA.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-07-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-07-15