The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, and the Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, John Cummins, have confirmed support for 82 infrastructure projects in the first phase of the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF). The approved schemes will directly enable 86,000 new homes and create the potential for an additional 113,000.

The multi-annual €1bn programme, administered by the Department's new Housing Activation Office, is designed to unlock serviced land and speed up large-scale housing delivery. It is the largest housing infrastructure fund announced in Ireland in many years.

Announcing the approvals, 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."

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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 approved projects range from locally led schemes in towns nationwide to investments that will enable large-scale delivery on strategic landbanks in and around the five cities. The Housing Activation Office will coordinate multi-agency investment with critical utilities and transport bodies, including Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks, to ensure lands are fully serviced and ready for housing.

Under Call 1, HIIF prioritises advanced, deliverable infrastructure with a housing activation window of 2026–2028, while also offering grant support to develop earlier-stage proposals. The 82 projects represent an expected direct investment of about €862m, which will also trigger complementary spending across the water, energy and transport sectors.

The Department plans further development of HIIF, including broadening participation to a wider range of public and private delivery partners in future calls. Criteria are expected to evolve to reflect national infrastructure needs, delivery capacity, and policy and legislative changes in Ireland and the EU, with the objective of building a rolling programme that removes obstacles to housing delivery.

The Housing Activation Office was established following a Programme for Government 2025 commitment to coordinate and accelerate homebuilding by unblocking infrastructure delays and servicing zoned land. It brings together senior expertise from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and local government to identify blockages and coordinate investment, particularly in larger towns and cities.

To support the Office's work, Browne has also convened quarterly Housing Activation Delivery and Industry Groups, which first met on 6 November 2025, to maintain regular engagement with departments, infrastructure agencies and industry.

A full list of the projects approved under Call 1 is available on the Department's website.