I thank Deputy Neville for raising this matter, as he regularly does in this Chamber . His advocacy for Kildare is certainly well noted. As he will be aware, I was in Kildare last Thursday, when I visited the local authority and engaged with the executive team. Much of what the Deputy has raised here in his question was the subject of the discussion we had. The system of funding of local government in Ireland is a complex one. Local authorities derive their income from a range of sources, including commercial rates, charges for goods and services provided, the local property tax, and grants from various Departments and State agencies for both capital and current expenditure purposes. The central government grant funding to Kildare County Council increased by more than 60% from €168.3 million in 2018 to €271.9 million in 2023, according to its audited annual financial statements. Across all schemes and funding sources, the Department provided €164.9 million in 2020, €218.6 million in 2023 and €233.2 million in 2024. With regard to local property tax, LPT, which makes up approximately 6% of the sector's locally raised income, a review of baselines was completed by a working group in 2023, which resulted in an increase of €1.5 million to the baseline LPT for Kildare County Council. We have established a local democracy task force, which had its first meeting last week, where funding for local authorities is an important stream. I will give further detail on LPT allocations in my follow-up replies.
Sentiment score: 0.22
It is the case that, through a decision made in Cabinet today on the LPT model, there will be a significant increase in LPT for Kildare County Council as part of its 2026 figures. That will be made up from an increase in the baseline figures but also from the retention element moving from 22.5% to 31%. It means that Kildare County Council will have an additional €4.9 million in funding in LPT for 2026 over and above what was provided in 2025.
Sentiment score: 0.21
I have no doubt that the Deputy will continue to use this Chamber to be a strong advocate for north Kildare and the county as a whole. The Deputy is right about the LPT; there is a recognition in the Government of the increased pressures on areas like Kildare. That is why we are saying as a Government, in line with the decisions that have been made by the Cabinet and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, that we will allow for a higher retention rate in areas that have a growing population, additional housing and increased pressure to provide services for the people. That is why an additional €4.9 million in LPT will be available to Kildare County Council to put towards the capital infrastructure projects that are required for the growing population in County Kildare.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as he has done previously. As I do, the Deputy recognises the importance of translating what we have approved in this House in the national planning framework into getting it implemented by local authorities in their development plans as early as possible. That is why the Minister, Deputy Browne, has written to local authorities telling them to prepare and start work on their variation processes. We will be writing to local authorities very shortly about their housing growth requirements for the interim years, up until the next revision of their development plans. We are engaging with the Attorney General on this matter. We want to ensure that any of the housing growth requirements that we give to local authorities are legally robust and stand up to scrutiny. The point made by the Deputy about local authorities being able to zone a sufficient amount of land in order to deliver much-needed homes for individuals and families is a key priority of the Minister and me. We have done an extensive amount of work on this issue with our planning officials. We want to get this right in order to ensure we have sufficient zoning of land to be able to provide houses for individuals and families in Wicklow and across the country.
Sentiment score: 0.34
I can assure the Deputy that there will be headroom in the housing growth requirements. Obviously, there will be the base, in line with what is in the national planning framework, which is to provide about 54,000 homes per annum. This is a significant increase compared with the 33,000 previously. There is a requirement in the base for a significant additional zoning requirement. As we know that not every parcel of land is brought forward for development, there is a requirement for headroom in terms of that. The Minister and I have been very clear with our officials on this matter. Local authorities will have clearer understanding of what that will be very shortly.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I thank both Deputies. Increasing housing supply in all parts of the country is critical. The variation process in terms of the county development plans is a very important part of this. That is why such extensive work has been done in the Department to ensure that the housing growth requirements are aligned with the NPF and that they also allow for additional headroom in terms of zoning requirements for local authorities. We want additional land to be brought forward for housing across the country. On Deputy Timmins's point, the Minister met the CEOs and directors of services for housing and planners very recently. I have met up to now about ten local authorities in my engagements around the country. We are discussing forward planning and delivery of housing units across all of the streams. We will continue to do so as a Government.
Sentiment score: 0.14
The zoning of land is an exercise undertaken by planning authorities as part of their development plan process. The making of a development plan is a reserved function of the elected members of each planning authority who are required by legislation to be consistent with the established statutory national and regional planning policy and legislation, including, as identified in the national planning framework, regional spatial and economic strategies and ministerial planning guidelines. Development plans have to set out planning policies and objectives to provide for proper planning and sustainable development in their area over the six-year lifespan of the plan. We are moving to ten-year development plans. They must also include mandatory objectives for regeneration. It is up to local authorities to decide the quantum and location of zoned land, for whatever purpose. In the context of the guidance I referred to earlier that the Department will issue regarding the housing growth requirements, it will be a requirement for every local authority to vary their development plans. It will be a matter for the members in terms of the quantum and the exact location.
Sentiment score: 0.08
It is the requirement of local authorities and the reserved function of members to decide what locations and what specific zoning objectives they determine for each land bank. They are required to include mandatory objectives regarding regeneration and to provide zoning for residential, commercial, employment and enterprise, industrial and other uses to such extent as the proper planning and sustainable development of an area requires. The Minister and I will write to the local authorities in the context of their housing growth requirements and the variation process, but we do have to respect the reserved function of local authority members in setting their development plans where they feel it is appropriate for those given uses, be they very important industrial uses, residential, commercial or other uses as they see fit.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I appreciate the comments the Deputy made. It is not just for residential purposes; it is for industrial and commercial. While we do not instruct local authorities on specific areas, it is obviously a requirement to forward planning teams to look at the overall picture within a local authority area and determine where they feel residential, commercial, industrial zoning is appropriate and ensure there is an appropriate quantum of all of those uses within their local authority area. We will write to local authorities in terms of their housing growth requirements. That does open the variation process. The forward planning units within local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that full spectrum of uses is contained in any development plan.
Sentiment score: 0.28