Press release
Ministers welcome Urban Regeneration and Development Fund 2024 progress
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, and Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Alan Dillon, have welcomed the progress made by the €137 million of Urban Regeneration and Development Funding provided to towns and cities across Ireland over the last year.
Launched in 2018 as one of the flagship elements of Project Ireland 2024, the €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is continuing to support the National Planning Framework and the delivery of more compact and sustainable development across Ireland’s cities and large towns.
The URDF is providing up to 75% funding for applicant-led projects that will support more compact growth, enabling a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.
To date, there have been three rounds of funding provided under the URDF with more than €1.9 billion allocated so far. In 2024, over €137 million was provided from the Fund for successful projects.
As announced in Budget 2025, funding under the URDF will increase to €186 million for next year (2025) to provide continued support to urban regeneration and development projects. This will include the 132 successful proposals, comprising over 420 individual projects that were approved for URDF support under the first 2 Calls for proposals.
With URDF supported projects active in every local authority area in the country, 2024 saw the launch of a new online project tracker which provides detailed information, imagery and updates on the status of all the successful proposals. With the help of this interactive tool, users can easily navigate through the different URDF projects and gain valuable information about their status, milestones and impact. It provides a user-friendly interface that allows stakeholders, residents and interested individuals to stay informed about the ongoing developments in their area. This interactive webpage can be accessed through the URDF’s main website or directly via the following link: tinyurl.com/urdf-tracker.
The third round of support under the URDF (Call 3) is aimed at supporting key objectives of Housing for All and Town Centre First by specifically addressing long term vacancy and dereliction across URDF eligible cities and towns.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, welcomed progress over 2024 and is looking forward to seeing how the ‘game changing’ fund transforms towns and cities in 2025:
“Together with approved acquisition programmes to help tackle long term vacant and derelict properties, URDF supported projects are now active in every local authority area across the country. Driving compact growth in our cities and large towns, these transformational projects are improving quality of life in urban centres, making them more accessible, inclusive and liveable for all.
“By targeting support in an integrated, dynamic and responsive way, the €2 billion fund has proved to be a game changer, injecting momentum into the advancement of local authority plans for regeneration and development of our towns and cities.”
This dedicated €150 million revolving fund allows local authorities to acquire long-term vacant or derelict properties (residential and/or commercial), and to carry out any associated works needed to de-risk or improve the site to make it more attractive for re-use or sale. Acquired properties are then offered by local authorities for private sale at market value to those who in return will commit to bringing the property back into residential use. Proceeds from the sale of these properties will be used to replenish the fund, allowing a local authority to establish a rolling programme to tackle long-term vacancy and dereliction without a requirement for borrowing and the associated financial risk.
Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Alan Dillon, said the fund is a transformative one for towns and cities in every local authority area in Ireland:
"The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund is transforming communities across Ireland, enabling cities and towns to grow in ways that are sustainable, inclusive, and vibrant. The innovative URDF Call 3 is tackling vacancy and dereliction head-on, offering real opportunities for urban renewal and housing delivery. This fund demonstrates our commitment to making Ireland’s towns and cities places where people want to live, work, and invest."
Call 3 continued to progress in 2024, with nearly 50% (621) of the 1,297 properties identified by local authorities for inclusion in the programme actively coming out of vacancy/dereliction.