‘The Minister is looking for 300,000 houses by 2030 but we haven’t a hope of reaching that with the figures we have’

Defiant Meath councillors are urging planners to ignore government guidelines when it comes to the rezoning of land for housing.

As the housing crisis continues, councillors believe the Minister for Local Government will not act against the council if it breaks current guidelines.

At last week's meeting of Meath County Council, Cllr Brian Fitzgerald spoke of his concerns that Meath will not meet its target of delivering 2,942 housing units each year between now and 2030 - a target set by the Minister last year.

He said they were being hampered in achieving that target by the Strategic Planning Framework and Core Strategy, which set limits on where and how much land can be zoned for housing.

“I am concerned the numbers we have at the minute is not going to deliver what the Minister is demanding. The most recent figures show Kildare up to the moment has 1,669 units completed, Fingal has 2,424 and Meath 1,291. The problem that have is we are being directed from outside through the Core Strategy and the National Planning Framework, which has been going on for ten years now.

“I think the time has come for us as a council to say we are not accepting the figures that have been laid down to us through the Core Strategy. No minister is saying anything about the Core Strategy but what they are saying day after day is that they want us as councillors to ensure that there is adequate land out there to build housing. The Minister is looking for 300,000 houses by 2030 (nationally). We haven't a hope of contributing our portion of that with the figures we have.”

Cllr Fitzgerald recommended that the planning officials look at all the submissions that have been made recently by landowners and developers for the rezoning of land. The council is in the process of varying the current County Development, which involves rezoning land for housing and Cllr Fitzgerald urged planners to put forward more lands for rezoning than have already been proposed.

“We also have to watch Kildare and Wicklow - both are ignoring the core strategy and are putting forward huge tracts of land. We have a number of major developers in this county and if we don't continue to have land for them, they are going to move out. They are going to move to Kildare and Dublin. We have to look at that.

“I cannot see any Minister overruling us if we increase the amount of land we have currently.

“Some years ago we were instructed to dezone land in a particular area. The councillors challenged it and appealed to Minister Coveney, who overruled the regulator and those lands are practically built now and there will be a lot more built around them.

“The Minister will not go against us. We need to make sure to keep the developers busy and keep the smaller developers in business.

“The core strategy and planning regulations have created the problems we have in this country with housing there. There is no telling point telling somebody who is homeless or living in crowded conditions we cannot produce any more houses because of the Core Strategy. We have got to address the problems created by those strategies.”

Cllr Gerry O'Connor said a lot of submissions had came in for rezoning and he understood the planning staff were tied with the core strategy and framework.

“To deliver 2,942 houses for the next three years is a hard task when only achieving what we are at the moment. Look at the submissions. Look at the areas we know will work, which will have the services and those which are ready for development. Put as much in as we can in and let them tell us what to take out. Other councils are ignoring the Core Strategy. I haven't heard any Ministers mention the core strategy once. They are chasing housing and it is our job to zone land for housing. Put it up to them and get as much land in there as possible.

“In this county if you build a house, it will be bought - not something you can say in every county .”

Cllr Maria Murphy agreed and said they “should be brave”.

“Around Dunboyne there are very large tracts of land with expressions of interest to build. We should be zoning sections of those lands, giving developers the opportunity to start building with the knowledge that when come to 2030 and the next County Development Plan, they will be able to continue on. If we were to zone any large tracts of land in Dunboyne we would be using up our core strategy figures fast.” she said.

Chief Executive, Kieran Kehoe asked councillors to make officials aware of where they want more zoned land than has already been brought forward.

Earlier Cllr Sean Drew pointed out Meath County Council had a liability of €546,048 payable to the Revenue Commissioners for 2026 Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) - a levy on the owners of property zoned for housing but not in use.

Cllr Drew said this was the sixth highest RZLT liability of the 31 Local Authorities.

He asked the number of sites owned by Meath County Council that created that RZLT liability and to provide details of the location of the 10 sites with the highest liabilities.

He was told that for 2026, 32 Meath Co Council land parcels fall within the scope of RZLT.

The sites with the highest associated liabilities are concentrated across five Municipal Districts: Ashbourne (1), Kells (3), Laytown/Bettystown (2), Navan (2) and Trim (2).

Cllr Drew said this was over half a million a year coming out of the council's accounts going to the Revenue Commissioner. “What are we doing with those lands. Why are we incurring those charges?”

The CEO said the council has plans in place for the advancing of those over sites the next few years.