Minister Browne announces first successful projects for investment from €1bn fund to unlock housing

• Approval for 82 projects under Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund
• Projects have potential to unlock land and deliver over 200,000 homes

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD and Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, John Cummins TD today announced the 82 infrastructure projects which will be supported in the first phase of the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF) programme. The approved projects will directly enable the delivery of 86,000 new homes and provide the potential for a further 113,000 homes.

These projects are the first to be funded as part of a major multi-annual fund committed to unlocking land and enabling the delivery of housing at scale.

Administered by the new Housing Activation Office within the Department of Housing, the €1 bn Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund is the largest housing infrastructure fund announced in Ireland for many years.

Announcing the projects being funded, Minister Browne said:

“Today, we are making our first announcements under the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund. In our first call for applications, we invited Local Authorities and the Land Development Agency to apply for funding to progress infrastructure projects that will unlock housing in towns and cities across the country – with an emphasis on shovel ready projects and works which can be quickly started.

“Having examined all the applications, today I am announcing 82 projects which will be supported and accelerated under the programme. These 82 projects can unlock land to deliver 86,000 new homes and create potential for a further 113,000 homes. This is exactly the type of result we were looking for when designing this fund.

“I am intensely focused on delivering more homes but also on delivering the best possible environment for constructing more homes. Across the country, we see zoned land lying idle because the critical enabling infrastructure needed to support housing development is not in place. The projects I am providing funding for today will directly tackle this problem. By investing at scale now, we can accelerate home building.”

Minister of State Cummins added:

“The Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund is a common sense approach to delivering more housing. It provides the crucial enabling infrastructure to get construction moving in towns across Ireland. I am particularly pleased to see a good mix of projects being funded – with a good geographical spread across the country.

“To tackle the housing crisis, we need to build houses, but we also need to build the best possible environment for delivering more homes. That is why infrastructure is so important. The Housing Activation office, working with local authorities and others, has identified obstacles and blockages within the system that we can now target through the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund. The projects we are funding today will create the infrastructure and environment on the ground to realise the full potential of lands across the country and help deliver the extra homes our communities need.”

The projects approved today include sites that enable local activation in towns across the country, as well as projects that enable housing delivery at scale on more strategic landbanks in and around the state’s five Cities. The Housing Activation Office, will coordinate the multi-agency investment required at all levels, working directly with critical utilities and transport agencies, including Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks, to ensure that complementary investment is provided and that lands are fully serviced and ready to deliver housing.

The Department will continue to develop the HIIF and intends to broaden the approach in future calls to include a range of public and private sector delivery partners.

View the full list of projects being funded today.

ENDS

Notes

Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund

The HIIF was announced as part of Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025–2030. It is a multi-annual fund under the updated National Development Plan (NDP) 2025-2035.

HIIF is designed to provide the enabling infrastructure required to unlock key housing sites in town and cities nationwide. The Fund will complement investment by other Government Departments and infrastructure agencies, such as Uisce Éireann and ESBN, who have received funding under the updated NDP to support housing growth, as part of a more coordinated approach. This will ensure that lands identified and prioritised for housing are serviced and ready to deliver home.

Under Call 1, the Fund is prioritising advanced and deliverable infrastructure projects with a housing activation timeframe of 2026–2028. Grant funding has also been made available to develop projects that are at an earlier stage in their development. The 82 projects accepted into the programme represent a total direct expected investment of approximately €862m, complemented by supporting investment which will now be triggered across the water, energy and transport sectors.

The Department will continue to develop the HIIF and intends to broaden the approach in 2026 to include a range of public and private sector delivery partners. The criteria of the fund are also likely to evolve over time having regard to the infrastructural needs of the country, sectoral capacities to deliver infrastructure and housing, and changes in the broader policy and legislative landscapes nationally and at an EU level. The primary aim is to build a rolling programme of investment that addresses obstacles to the delivery of housing.

The Housing Activation Office

The Programme for Government 2025 Securing Ireland’s Future, proposed the establishment of a Strategic Housing & Infrastructure Delivery Office under the Minister for Housing to help: coordinate and accelerate home building by unblocking infrastructure delays; and coordinate investment in servicing zoned land.

The Housing Activation Office (HAO) is the delivery mechanism for this commitment. The HAO includes senior experts from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and the local government sector. Its role is to coordinate stakeholders, identify infrastructure blockages, and unlock land for housing development—especially in larger towns and cities where homes can be delivered at scale.

The Housing Activation Office (HAO) in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (the Department) will manage and implement the Fund, with Delivering Homes, Building Communities highlighting that for the HAO to succeed, it is imperative that funding is available to unlock the delivery of key infrastructure projects.

Download

Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund Call 1 Scheme Outline

Housing Activation Office Terms of Reference

Details of the Housing Activation Office were announced by the Minister on 29 April 2025.

Details of Housing Activation Office

Housing Activation Delivery and Industry Groups

Minister Browne convened a new Housing Activation Delivery Group and Industry Group on 6 November 2025. These groups will meet quarterly and will provide a forum for regular engagement with Government Departments and infrastructure agencies and industry officials to support the work of the Housing Activation Office.

Details of the Housing Activation Delivery and Industry Group inaugural meetings 6 November 2025