Delivering 303,000 homes by 2030

Thursday 20th March 2025 • Croke Park, Dublin

 
REGISTER NOW
 

Organised by

 
 
 

In association with

 

Sponsored by

 
 

25+ expert speakers

5 informative sessions

Scroll down

About

Housing Ireland Conference

Delivering 303,000 homes by 2030

In November 2024, ahead of the general election, the outgoing Government approved a revised delivery target of 303,000 new homes across the State by 2030.

Outlining a pathway to deliver an average of 50,500 homes per annum, rising to 60,000 in 2030 and subsequent years, the then-Government described it as a crucial step towards meeting:

  1. growing housing need, as per population increases; and
  2. existing and ongoing demand for housing.

Now, recognising the housing crisis as “a major social and economic challenge that touches every generation”, the incoming Government has committed to “prioritise a radical step change in housing supply”.

Housing for All is set to be replaced by “a new fully funded, radical and realistic housing plan”, seeking to accelerate the delivery of more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.

Meanwhile, the Report of The Housing Commission, published earlier in mid-2024 – as agreed in Programme for Government 2020 – advocates for a “radical strategic reset of housing policy”.

In this context, the 10th annual Housing Ireland conference will host a range of expert domestic and international speakers who will comprehensively explore the challenges, and tangible opportunities for Ireland’s housing practitioners as they seek to deliver 303,000 by 2030.

Key issues

Key issues to be examined:

Replete with an expert panel of high-level speakers, both domestic and visiting, the conference will be comprehensive, examining themes which include:
  • Housing for All implementation and progress
  • New 2030 housing target
  • European housing policy perspective
  • What the Planning and Development Act 2024 means for residential construction
  • Housing as an environmental common good
  • Delivering social and affordable housing at scale
  • The local authority role in delivering social and affordable housing at scale
  • Increasing the proportion of social and cost rental housing within the national housing stock
  • Strategic review of AHB sector
  • North and South: The social and affordable housing landscape in Ireland
  • Childcare provision in new housing
  • Housing conditions and integrated care for older people
  • Innovative methods to scale residential construction
  • The Report of The Housing Commission
  • Financing new housing supply
  • Ensuring a supply of sustainable and climate resilient housing
  • Overcoming challenges to residential construction
  • The holistic role of AHBs in establishing sustainable and vibrant communities
  • First Revision of the National Planning Framework
  • Delivering homes on state lands
  • Design for social and affordable housing
  • Decarbonising the social housing sector
Speakers

Confirmed speakers

Graham Doyle

 


Secretary General
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

David Silke


Interim Chief Executive Officer and Director of Insights and Operations
The Housing Agency

Caroline Timmons

Caroline Timmons is Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. She has responsibility for the Housing Affordability, Inclusion and Homelessness Division in the Department. She has previously worked as a principal officer in the housing policy and planning divisions of the department. She is a barrister and prior to joining the Department, she practiced for a number of years at the Bar before joining the Attorney General’s Office as Advisory Counsel and then worked as legal advisor to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. She previously served on the board of the Land Development Agency and is currently a member of the board of the First Home DAC.


Acting Assistant Secretary
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Senior representative

 



LDA

Fidelma McManus

Fidelma McManus is a partner and heads up Beauchamps’ specialised Housing team. She is the go-to expert in complex conveyancing and an acknowledged market leader in the acquisition and management of social and affordable housing. Her practice includes all aspects of conveyancing including the acquisition, structuring, financing, disposal and leasing of all types of property, including multi-unit developments, distressed and partially complete residential developments, shopping centres, retail parks and offices. She also advises on landlord and tenant law. Fidelma works closely with local authorities, state agencies, charities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), lending institutions, pension funds, sporting bodies, receivers and developers including institutional and private investors.

Partner and Head of Housing Beauchamps

Paul Hogan


Acting Assistant Secretary, Head of the Planning Division
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Paul Benson


Assistant Secretary, Social Housing Delivery Division
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Roslyn Molloy


Head of Policy, Practice, and Communications
The Housing Agency

Jim Baneham


Director of Delivery and Innovation
The Housing Agency

Margaret Geraghty



Assistant Programme Co-ordinator, Housing Delivery Coordination Office Team
Local Government Management Agency

Éadaoin Ní Chléirigh

Éadaoin Ní Chléirigh is the Director of Development Operations at the Irish Council for Social Housing. Prior to taking up her position at the ICSH, Éadaoin was CEO of Richmond Barracks. Having proposed the Barracks as a social regeneration project, she oversaw the restoration, and its subsequent opening as a city museum in Inchicore. Éadaoin has a long track record in community development and has led two regeneration projects in Dublin’s south inner city.  She has worked with the local authority, community interests and housing associations in the delivery of new social housing and refurbishment projects, as well as spearheading research and sourcing funding for numerous social projects in these areas. Eadaoin’s academic background includes conflict resolution and negotiation, and she holds a Masters in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from NUIM.

.


Director of Development Operations
Irish Council for Social Housing

Paddy Gray

Professor Paddy Gray OBE is Professor Emeritus of Housing at Ulster University. He has over 300 publications in  housing. In 2010 he was appointed the first and only Irish President of the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is a regular  media commentator on housing related issues. He is currently Chair of the Wheatley Foundation and Vice Chair of Wheatley  Homes Glasgow. In Ireland he is Chair of Tuath Housing Association and iCare Housing, Dublin. In 2017 he was appointed  to the Board of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in Ireland and Chairs its Research Committee. He is a former Chair  and currently a board member of Connswater Belfast, and is on the boards of First Housing and Support Services, and  Advice Northwest Derry as well as Safeagent Cheltenham. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary Fellowship of RICS. In  2015 he won the UK national award for Outstanding Contribution to Work Experience. In 2016 he hosted the European  Network for Housing Research (ENHR) annual conference in Belfast, the first time it had come to NI. In 2017 he was named  the top power player in housing in the UK and in 2019 was awarded an OBE for services to housing. In 2021 he was  appointed to the Housing Commission in Ireland.

Professor Emeritus of Housing, Ulster University and Chair, Tuath Housing Association

Dan Hill

Dan Hill is Director of Melbourne School of Design, the graduate school in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, and Professor of the Built Environment. He was formerly Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, the Swedish government’s innovation agency. A designer and urbanist, Dan's previous leadership roles include Vinnova in Stockholm, Arup in Sydney and London, the Finnish innovation fund SITRA in Helsinki, Fabrica in Italy, and the Future Cities Catapult and the BBC in London. Dan is also a Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Practice and founder member of the Council on Urban Initiatives, a joint venture between UN-HABITAT, LSE and UCL.


Director
Melbourne School of Design and Professor of the Built Environment
University of Melbourne

Killian O’Sullivan

 


Assistant Planner
Fingal County Council

Tom Grey

 


Research Fellow, Civil Structural & Environmental Engineering
University College Dublin

Seán Armstrong

Seán Armstrong is Head of Unit for the Climate & Construction Innovation unit within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This unit leads and develops policy related to climate action, construction industry regulation, modern methods of construction, residential construction cost reduction, the transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). The unit is also responsible for placing the Construction Industry Register Ireland (CIRI) on a statutory footing and for registration of construction professionals. He is a Chartered Engineer and has extensive experience in the construction sector and building energy policy.

Head of Climate & Construction Innovation Unit
Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage

Shirley Coulter

 


Chief Executive Officer
Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland

Karen Kenny


Senior Adviser, National, Regional and Urban Planning Policy
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Tom Maguire

 


Senior Development Advisor
Enterprise Ireland

Daniel McCrum

Dr McCrum is also an Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering in University College Dublin where he leads the Modern Methods of Construction Research Group. Dr McCrum is a funded principal investigator and member of the Centre Executive Management Committee of Construct Innovate, Ireland's National Research Centre for Construction Technology and Innovation. Within Construct Innovate, where he also leads the challenge theme on Productivity, Affordability and Cost, which directly relates to improving the adoption of MMC. A significant current project funded by Enterprise Ireland and in collaboration with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage aims to develop Building Regulation compliant standardised construction details for MMC. Dr McCrum is a chartered structural engineer and has been a funded Principal Investigator by Research Ireland, Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, Irish Research Council, Enterprise Ireland, amongst others.

Co-Principal Investigator ConstructInnovate

Claire McManus

Claire McManus chairs the RIAI Housing Committee and is the RIAI Spokesperson on Housing. She holds an MBA and is involved in the research and development of RIAI policy with respect to Housing.  Claire is a member of several other housing committees including the Housing Agency’s ‘Supply & Affordability Panel’, the DHLG/RIAI ‘Joint Housing Committee’ and Tuath Housing Association’s ‘Development Committee’

Director
JFOC Architects and
Spokesperson on Housing
RIAI

Brian Mallon

 


Associate Director
Hawkins\Brown

John O’Connor

John O’Connor is the Chair of The Housing Commission. John is widely considered to be one of the most knowledgeable and experienced people in the Irish housing sector. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of The Housing Agency. Previous roles include Chief Executive of the Affordable Homes Partnership, and Executive Manager of the Housing & Communities Department in Dublin City Council. He also worked in the construction industry before moving to local government. John has extensive experience in the management, development, provision and direct delivery of housing, particularly in the areas of social housing, affordable housing and regeneration projects.

.


Chair
The Housing Commission

Michelle Norris

Michelle is Director of the Geary Institute and Full Professor of Social Policy. She is a leading researcher on housing policy and urban regeneration, and an adviser in these areas both domestically and internationally. Her work focuses particularly on the management and financing of social housing, the regeneration of social housing estates and inner urban areas, comparative analysis of housing provision in Europe, and the history and socio-economic implications of Irish housing policy and its relationship with the welfare state. She has led over 20 research projects on housing policy since 2000 and produced over 170 publications on the results. In 2011 and again in 2016 she was appointed by an Taoiseach as an independent member of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) which advises the Irish government on economic, environmental and social policy. In 2012 and again in 2017 she was appointed by the Minister for Housing as chair of the Housing Finance Agency. In 2018 and 2022 she was appointed by the Minister for Housing to the board of the Land Development Agency. In 2020, she was appointed as an expert advisor to the Housing 2030 project, which is funded by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, UN Habitat, Housing Europe and the governments of 56 countries. It aims to improve the capacity of national and local governments to formulate policies that improve housing affordability and sustainability.


School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice
University College Dublin

Kathryn Meghen

Kathryn is the CEO of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, an organisation that works to inspiring excellence in architecture to deliver a sustainable and resilient future for all in society. As CEO she oversees the delivery of the RIAI Strategy and the development of RIAI policies, programmes, education and other services to support Registered Architects and Architectural Technologists. An advocate for a high-quality and sustainable built environment, Kathryn represents the RIAI on a number of external committees, including the Irish Government’s Housing Commission, the Construction Industry Council, Construction Sector Group and the Build Digital Steering Group. She has represented the architectural profession on the steering group for the development of Ireland’s National Policy on Architecture, Places for People, and on the Town Centre First Policy advisory group.


CEO
Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

Eoin Ó Broin TD

Eoin Ó Broin TD has been a Sinn Féin activist for 20 years. He is a Spokesperson on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and his priorities are public and private investment in job creation across Dublin Mid-West, investment in social housing, greater regulation of the private rented market and government support for those in mortgage distress and fair tax reform to help hard pressed working families while generating sufficient revenue to invest in jobs, health, education, childcare and community services. Eoin was elected to Belfast City Council from 2001 to 2004 and was the party’s Director of European Affairs from 2004 to 2007. He was also a Councillor for the Clondalkin/Newcastle/Rathcoole area having been co-opted in 2013 and topping the poll in 2014.


Housing Spokesperson
Sinn Féin

Owen Reidy

Owen Reidy General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions since October 2022. The ICTU organises and represents the interests of over 760,000 workers across the island of Ireland through its 46 affiliate trade unions. The ICTU is the coordinated voice of the Irish trade union movement representing the interests of workers in dialogue with government and the EU and with other social partners.

 

Prior to this appointment he was the Assistant General Secretary of the ICTU for a 6-year period with responsibility for Northern Ireland. He represented our NI unions on issues such a Brexit and engaged with both the UK government and Stormont during this period.

 

He started his trade union career in SIPTU in 1998 working in a number of capacities and has represented and organised a diverse range of workers in both the public and private sector. Before joining the ICTU in 2016 he was a member of the SIPTU senior management team and was involved in several high-profile disputes including the Luas, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Irish Rail strikes and the Greyhound lockout.

 

He is a graduate of University College Dublin with a BA in History and Politics and an MA in Politics. He is a father of 2 and is from Donegal.

.


General Secretary
Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Programme

Conference programme

08:30

Registration and coffee

09:00

Chair's welcome and introduction

 

Chair: Graham Doyle, Secretary General, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH)

09:05

CONFERENCE PLENARY: DELIVERING HOUSING FOR ALL

Ministerial address: Accelerating Housing Supply
New Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Invited)


Innovation in housing: The next decade
David Silke, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Director of Insights and Operations, The Housing Agency

Delivering affordable homes on state lands
Senior representative, Land Development Agency

Fidelma McManus, Partner, Commercial Real Estate, Public Sector, Construction, Projects, Infrastructure and Energy, Beauchamps

What the Planning and Development Act 2024 means for residential construction
Paul Hogan, Assistant Secretary, Head of the Planning Division, DHLGH

Question & answer session / Panel discussion

11:00

Morning break

11:15

Chair: Paul Benson, Acting Assistant Secretary, Social Housing Delivery Division, DHLGH

KEYNOTE VISITING ADDRESS: Modern housing: An environmental common good

Dan Hill, Director, Melbourne School of Design, and Professor of the Built Environment, University of Melbourne/ Visiting Professor of Practice, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London

11:45

PARALLEL SESSION 1: DELIVERING SOCIAL AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING AT SCALE 


Chair: Paul Benson, Acting Assistant Secretary, Social Housing Delivery Division, DHLGH

Delivering Social and Affordable Housing at Scale
Jim Baneham, Director of Delivery and Innovation, The Housing Agency

The local authority role in delivering social and affordable housing at scale
Margaret Geraghty, Assistant Programme Co-ordinator, Housing Delivery Coordination Office Team, Local Government Management Agency

Increasing the proportion of social and cost rental housing within the national housing stock
Éadaoin Ní Chléirigh, Director of Development Operations, Irish Council for Social Housing

North and South: The social and affordable housing landscape in Ireland
Paddy Gray, Professor Emeritus of Housing, Ulster University and Chair, Tuath Housing Association

Question & answer session / Panel discussion

PARALLEL SESSION 2: ACCESSIBLE HOUSING AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES 


Chair: Roslyn Molloy, Head of Policy, Practice, and Communications, The Housing Agency

The Danish public housing model
Bent Madsen, CEO, Danish Federation of Non-Profit Housing Providers and President, Housing Europe (Invited)

Childcare provision in new housing
Killian O’Sullivan, Assistant Planner, Fingal County Council

Housing conditions and integrated care for older people
Tom Grey, Research Fellow, TrinityHaus Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin

Question & answer session / Panel discussion

13:15

Lunch break

14:00

DISCUSSION PANEL: INNOVATIVE METHODS TO SCALE RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION


Chair: Caroline Timmons, Assistant Secretary, Affordable Housing Division, DHLGH

Developments in MMC: Opportunities to drive efficiency and scale
Seán Armstrong, Head of Unit, Climate and Construction Innovation, Housing Policy, Legislation and Governance Division, DHLGH

  • Shirley Coulter, Chief Executive Officer, Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland
  • Karen Kenny, Senior Adviser, National, Regional and Urban Planning Policy, DHLGH
  • Tom Maguire, Senior Development Advisor, Enterprise Ireland
  • Daniel McCrum, Co-Principal Investigator, ConstructInnovate
  • Claire McManus, Director, JFOC Architects and Spokesperson on Housing, RIAI
  • Brian Mallon, Associate Director, Hawkins\Brown

Question and answer session

15:15

Coffee break

15:35

DISCUSSION PANEL: WHERE IS THE REPORT OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION NOW?


Chair: Paddy Gray, Professor Emeritus of Housing, Ulster University and Chair, Tuath Housing Association 

The significance of the Report of The Housing Commission
John O’Connor, Chair, The Housing Commission

  • Michelle Norris, School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin 
  • Kathryn Meghen, CEO, Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland
  • Eoin Ó Broin TD, Housing Spokesperson, Sinn Féin
  • Senior Representative, Labour Party (Invited)
  • Owen Reidy, General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Question and answer session

16:50

Chairs' concluding remarks and Conference close

Who should attend

Who should attend?

The conference will attract stakeholders engaged in all aspects of housing policy, funding, delivery, and management, including senior managers in the public, private, and third sectors in Ireland.

It will be of particular interest to:

  • Professionals in housing policy and delivery
  • Government departments and agencies
  • Those providing social welfare advice
  • Approved housing bodies
  • Policy / public affairs advisors
  • The construction industry
  • Project funders
  • Legal advisors
  • Housing and planning consultants
  • The community and voluntary sector / NGOs
  • Local elected representatives
 
 

Days until Housing Ireland Conference 2024
00

days

00

hours

00

minutes

00

seconds

Register

Reserve your place

 

Delegate rate for AHBs and voluntary sector

€245
+ VAT @ 23% = €301.35
  •  
REGISTER
 

Standard delegate
rate

€345
+ VAT @ 23% = €424.35
  •  
REGISTER
 

Getting to the venue

Croke Park

Jones' Road
Drumcondra
Dublin 3, Ireland

 
 

eolas Magazine
Clifton House
Lower Fitzwilliam Street
Dublin D02 XT91

+353 (0)1 661 3755
info@eolasmagazine.ie

X