Land for over 2,000 housing units across Donegal to be unlocked

The allocated funding will directly unlock 1,830 housing units and indirectly unlock a further 335 residential units

Published 16th Jun 2026, 21:06 BST Nationally, a €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund will be delivered | Pixabay The allocated funding will directly unlock 1,830 housing units and indirectly unlock a further 335 residential units Sign up to our Donegal Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Donegal Live within your account.

Four projects in the county have been allocated funding under the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF) programme, which will unlock land for over 2,000 houses.

The funded projects are Windyhall and Killtoy in Letterkenny, Aghilly in Buncrana and Drumacrin in Bundoran.

Nationally, a €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund will be delivered to unlock land and enable the delivery of housing at scale. In Donegal , the funding will directly unlock 1,830 housing units and indirectly unlock a further 335 residential units.

“These initiatives across Donegal will build capacity in local infrastructure networks to transform idle land into development-ready sites,” Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport and Fianna Fáil TD Charlie McConalogue said.

“This massive state investment of €1 billion aims to directly solve Ireland's housing supply issues by funding the critical underground utilities and roads required before any house building can start. Land that is suitable for housing should be able to be developed, and that is exactly what these investments will help achieve.”

The HIIF was announced by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD and Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, John Cummins TD.

“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,” Minister Browne said.

“Having examined all the applications, 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.”

The breakdown of the four Donegal projects is as follows: Kiltoy - directly unlocks lands for 300 residential units and indirectly unlocks a further 335 residential units. The indicative cost band is approximately €10 million for this development. At Windyhall, land for 654 residential units will be directly unlocked at an indicated cost of between €10 million and €20 million.

At Aghilly, land will be directly unlocked for 330 residential units, for around €10 million and at Drumacrin, funding of €10 million will directly unlock land for 546 residential units.

“All projects funded under this round of the HIIF must be complete by Q1 2028 so I envisage that work will begin on site within the next few months,” Fianna Fáil Councillor Fionán Bradley said. “The Aghilly Road has been a priority of mine since being elected to Donegal County Council and I am delighted to have been able to deliver this project for Buncrana.”

Read More Leinster House to hear directly from those affected by Creeslough tragedy ‘A blanket ban everywhere along the N56 has never made any practical sense’ ‘Donegal has the most profound housing crisis in Ireland’ ‘There can be change and we have to hold on to that hope’ The approved projects are at various stages of delivery in accordance with the project lifecycle detailed in the Infrastructure Guideline. The Department will manage funding at a programme level and funding for individual projects will be allocated annually to ensure progression to the next stage of the project lifecycle, taking account of delivery progress. This funding approach mirrors those adopted across transport and other sectors and allows funding to be targeted to projects that are making good progress. Letters will be issued to applicants in the coming days detailing the decision made in respect of each application in more detail.

The projects approved include sites that enable local activation in towns across the country, as well as projects that enable housing delivery at scale on more strategic landbanks in and around the state’s five Cities. The Housing Activation Office will coordinate the multi-agency investment required at all levels, working directly with critical utilities and transport agencies, including Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks, to ensure that complementary investment is provided and that lands are fully serviced and ready to deliver housing.

The Department will continue to develop the HIIF and intends to broaden the approach in future calls to include a range of public and private sector delivery partners.

“The Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund is a commonsense approach to delivering more housing,” Minister of State Cummins added. “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.”

Related topics: Housing Donegal James Browne Charlie McConalogue Sign up to our Donegal Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Donegal Live within your account.