Housing Activation Industry Group Terms of Reference (November 2025)

The Government agreed, on 29th April 2025, to establish a new Housing Activation Office (HAO) under the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (the Minister).

The HAO is operational and includes a team of senior specialists from Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the local government sector, in addition to senior staff from the Department.

The Office will be overseen by a Deputy Secretary General for Housing Activation who will have a cross cutting role focused on growing housing supply through policy alignment, infrastructure provision and inter-agency collaboration.

The HAO has a strategic function, to coordinate and accelerate delivery of public infrastructure projects needed to unlock housing development, and an operational function seeking to unblock issues on the ground. Crucial to this will be the engagement and interaction with key stakeholders, including local authorities, infrastructure providers, industry and others to address barriers in a coordinated way.

The HAO will also manage a new Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund under the National Development Plan to support direct investment in infrastructure at a local level that will unlock housing development on key sites with potential for largescale housing development. This Fund will complement investment by infrastructure agencies as part of a coordinated approach to investment in housing enabling infrastructure.

It is clear that the scale of the challenge requires a new level of collaboration and insight into the challenges faced on the ground. To support this the Minister is convening a Housing Activation Industry Group to allow for regular engagement between the Minister and industry representative bodies. The Group will provide a structured forum to share practical insights and develop collaborative solutions.

The Housing Activation Industry Group will provide a forum for regular engagement between the Minister and industry representative bodies on infrastructure coordination and housing activation. It is an opportunity for industry representative bodies to set out an overview of system and operational barriers to housing delivery to inform the work of the Housing Activation Office. It will also allow industry representative bodies to advise on emerging risks and challenges facing the sector.

The Housing Activation Delivery Group will be chaired by the Minister and supported by the Housing Activation Office, which will act as secretariat.

Government Department:

• Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH)

External Members:

• Nominee of Irish Institutional Property (IIP)
• Nominee(s) of Construction Industry Federation (CIF)
• Nominee of the Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA)
• Nominee(s) of IBEC
• Nominee of Property Industry Ireland (PII)

Membership may be reviewed periodically to ensure it continues to reflect the needs and scope of the Industry Group.

The Housing Activation Industry Group will meet quarterly. The Chairpersons may also convene additional meetings, as appropriate, and may invite experts or other parties to attend meetings

The minutes of the Industry Group meetings will be published on the Department’s website within six months of being agreed.