Scott Calls Out Government’s ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ On Zoning

In the zone…? Pic: Ray O’Keefe

atest press release from Councillor Lourda Scott, issued on Tuesday, November 4th 2025…

Greystones Cathaoirleach Councillor Lourda Scott has warned that increasing housing targets for Wicklow will not necessarily deliver the homes needed.

Greystones Cathaoirleach Councillor Lourda Scott has warned that increasing housing targets for Wicklow will not necessarily deliver the homes needed. Cllr Scott was responding to reports that Wicklow County Council was among just a handful of local authorities invited to meet with An Taoiseach, An Tánaiste, Minister for Housing & Local Government and the Minister of State for Housing to align the County Development Plan with new national housing targets and consider changing RN2 lands to RN1 zoning status.

After questioning the Chief Executive at the November Council meeting, Cllr Scott said serious concerns were raised about the Government’s commitment to addressing the national housing crisis.

“Zoning additional land does not guarantee a single new home will be built,” said Cllr Scott.

According to figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, over 70,000 homes with full planning permission have not yet started construction.

Until Government tackles the reasons behind this, simply changing zoning categories will not speed up the building of homes. In addition to this, tens of thousands of vacant and derelict properties remain across the country. The quickest way to make housing available is to bring these into use, not to expand zoning boundaries yet again.

Bray’s Sea Gardens

“We are in a housing crisis, yet the Government refuses to treat it like the emergency it is,” said Cllr Scott. “Talking about zoning more land and increasing housing targets is more smoke and mirrors by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael; good for headlines but not resulting in the delivery of more housing.

“We also need honesty about how those homes will be delivered, and whether the infrastructure that makes them liveable will be ready in time. In Greystones, we have seen housing delivered at pace over the past decade, but the services to support that growth simply have not kept up.”

Cllr Scott said she was disappointed that despite the Tánaiste’s personal connection to Greystones, investment in infrastructure was not discussed in the meeting with Council officials.

“Everyone living in Greystones and North Wicklow knows that infrastructure is playing catch-up. I am constantly contacted by constituents who cannot access GP services, creche places and sporting groups who are bursting at the seams with no space to expand.

“School places are under particular pressure, with local children this September again finding themselves without a secondary school place.

“Extensions are slow to progress; North Wicklow Educate Together in Bray still has no permanent home, and Newtown Mount Kennedy is crying out for a secondary school to be sanctioned but it isn’t happening.

“It is frustrating that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have allowed this situation to develop over more than a decade in power. So we have the situation where communities like Greystones that have already delivered significant housing numbers, but the State has failed to match that with the necessary infrastructure.

“In the meantime, homeless figures continue to rise with the number of children on the list at over 5,000 according to the latest figures,” concluded Scott.

“It’s a mess and a disgrace. Yet all the Government can do is look to zoning land.”