CABINET IS SET to sign off on a new €1 billion fund aimed at increasing house-building across the country between now and 2028. 

Minister for Housing James Browne will bring a memo to the Cabinet meeting this morning on the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF).

Following the meeting, the Fianna Fáil TD is expected to announce the first call for projects to local councils and the Land Development Agency (LDA).

Over the next five years, €1 billion will be allocated to public infrastructure projects that are needed to address the known obstacles to the delivery of new houses, such as water, electricity and transport. 

The HIIF, which is the largest housing infrastructure fund announced for many years, will be overseen by the Department’s Housing Activation Office. Delivery is expected between 2026 and 2028.

It’s understood Browne has demanded that the fund be used to support the construction of “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects that can “move immediately” and “unlock” numbers of housing sites across towns and cities.

The Minister is also understood to have been clear that the fund is not substituting what councils or funding streams in other departments should be delivering. 

It comes after the Department of Infrastructure unveiled its “radical” plan aimed at speeding up the delivery of infrastructure projects in December. 

The Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan will cap legal costs for judicial reviews and bring forward legislation that would place the judicial review process on a statutory footing, allowing the government to set new parameters for how they can be used. 

Central to the plan is an ambition to cut the time it takes to deliver big projects.