We’re being asked by our TDs and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council management to find more land for housing, and would you look 👀 most of it is in Glencullen-Sandyford again. Can we take more housing in Kilternan, Stepaside, Sandyford and the surrounding areas, or are these plans just too much Dublin Mountains Sprawl?
Council management have identified lands in Sandyford, Stepaside, Kilternan and Carrickmines that they want developed in the future. More details on these below.
Some parts of this proposal have been discussed a lot, and others have been just quietly ignored. This short video explains why:
Why is this happening?
In 2018, councils were given housing targets to aim for when zoning land for residential development. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (DLR) were given a target of 1,908 homes per year.
In 2022, after 3 years of public consultation and debate, councillors in DLR approved a 6-year County Development Plan with enough land to enable construction of 3,085 homes per year, as a lot residential land doesn’t get built on for a long list of reasons.
From 2022-24, an average of 2,766 homes per year were built in DLR. Almost 1 in 3 of these new homes are in Glencullen-Sandyford.
The Taoiseach and Minister for housing, quietly supported by our local Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs, have given DLR a new target of 3,585 homes per year and issued a diktat to us to zone enough land for 5,377 homes per year. The only councils with a higher target than us are Dublin City Council and Cork County Council.
To give you a sense of the government’s commitment to regional balance, DLR (126km²) have been given a housing target that is equal to the combined targets of Limerick (2,756 km² with a city) and Waterford (1,858 km² with a city).
The government have also required councils to allow higher densities on existing residential zoned land and designate which lands they want to mark out for future residential zoning (Long Term Strategic Sites – more on these later).
| Number of homes per year | Decided by | |
| DLR Housing Target 2018 | 1,908 | Central government – Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy |
| DLR capacity of zoned residential lands 2022 | 3,085 | DLR County Councillors |
| DLR Home building 2022-2024 | 2,766 | DLR Planners approve applications |
| DLR Housing Target 2026-2030 | 3,585 | Central government- Minister for Housing James Browne |
| DLR target for zoned residential land capacity 2026-2030 | 5,377 | Central government- Minister for Housing James Browne |
| Capacity of DLR lands to be rezoned in 2026 | 2,043 | Proposed by DLR council planners, approval of DLR councillors needed |
If councillors refuse to approve new land rezonings, the Minister for Housing James Browne (FF) or the Minister for Planning John Cummins (FG) have the legal power to choose lands to be rezoned themselves. The Taoiseach has briefed the media that they will do this, without any public consultation. No Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil or Independent TD has challenged him on this, so we have to presume they’re OK with all of this.
Personally, I don’t want a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Minister from Wexford or Waterford coming along dictating to us where we should and shouldn’t build housing in our community.
Sustainable Communities or Mountain Sprawl?
So what exactly are council management proposing? To save you trawling through maps and long documents, I’m going to summarise it here for you, but the information is there in full format here on the council’s website.
First, what’s a rezoning and how is different to a “Long-Term Strategic Site”?
Rezoning means a change in zoning of a piece of land. In our County Development Plan, lands can be zoned for different uses. So if you hear “that land is zoned A”, it means that land is zoned for residential development or residential amenities.
Being rezoned doesn’t change the existing use of land, it changes the future use of that land. e.g. if you run a business on land zoned E and the council rezones it to A, you just keep running your business. It just means any future planning application you make on that land, must comply with the new zoning. Any development still needs to go through the full planning application process too – a rezoning doesn’t get into the level of detail of a planning application.
A “Long-Term Strategic Site” (LTSS) is a new planning policy brought in by Minister Peter Burke (FG) in 2022 who wrote he was “delighted to publish” the new guidelines. You can read the extract below on the LTSS that Minister Burke was delighted to introduce.
So an LTSS doesn’t change the zoning, but it signals that the zoning could change in future, and until then, no development can happen on the LTSS land.
In 2026, the council are planning 3 rezonings and 4 LTSSs.
Rezoning 1: The old FAAC Electronics Factory on the corner of Burton Hall Road and Leopardstown Road in Sandyford Business District. This site has been vacant and derelict for 20 years. The council are proposing mixed use of homes and amenities on this site. The map showing this change is here (number 1 on the map).
Rezoning 2: the unfinished office buildings in Central Park next to the M50. The owners built the foundations, underground car park and podium for 3 tall office buildings and have built one so far. The council are proposing to rezone the 2 unfinished buildings to residential where the owners estimate they could build 206 apartments just 2 minutes walk from Central Park Luas stop. The council are also proposing to rezone some of the space in front of these buildings for amenities. The map showing the changes is here (numbers 2&3 on the map).
Rezoning 3: Changing green belt land either side of the M11 (between Loughlinstown roundabout and Bray) in Old Connaught and Woodbrook to residential or amenity zoned lands. This isn’t the are I represent so I’m not deeply familiar with it. The map showing the changes is here.
LTSS 1: Stepaside Village to Kilternan Village. You may have heard of this one as it includes the Mountainview site, Jamestown Pitch & Putt, part of Stepaside Golf Centre and some lands next to the Church of Ireland in Kilternan. This has been proposed by DLR council management. You can see the full LTSS in the map here (the dark green and light green section marked 1 and 2).
LTSS 2: Glenamuck East/Springfield. This LTSS, proposed by council management, is out the back of 10-18 Glenamuck Cottages and Rockville Drive and includes the popular Carrickmines Equestrian Centre and Springfield Montessori School. You can see the exact area marked in this map where it says 156 and 3. The land is zoned agricultural and is not being proposed by council management to rezone it.
LTSS 3: Carrickmines along the M50. This is land along the southside of the M50 from the Carrickmines exit halfway to the Cherrywood exit, between the M50 and Carrickmines Golf Club. You can see the LTSS in the yellowish brown fields below or in this map (marked 4) and this map (marked 1).
LTSS 4: Rathmichael. The council management are proposing an LTSS on the southside of Ballycorus Road just before you get to Puck’s Castle Lane. You can see it in this map marked 2/159.
The public consultation on these proposals is open from 18th December 2025 to 26th January 2026. You can make a submission and see all the details of the proposals here or by post to: Variation No.1, Administrative Officer, Planning Section, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire A96 K6C9. I would encourage you to make a submission before the deadline, even if you have also signed a petition or contacted local representatives. Council management will not respond to petitions, only submissions.
In April 2026, councillors will get to vote on these proposals, or to suggest alternative lands for rezoning or LTSSs. You can contact your local councillor or myself on ooconnor@cllr.dlrcoco.ie if you want to influence how councillors vote.
If councillors make any significant changes to the proposals, there will be a public consultation to get views on those changes, and councillors will vote again in July 2026 taking into account that public feedback.
If you feel that councillors shouldn’t be forced to find new land for housing in the rural parts of DLR, I’d encourage you to contact your TDs who are part of the government who set the targets for councils to follow.
But don’t we need more homes?
Yes, we do, and we need the government and all 31 local councils in Ireland playing a constructive part in dealing with the housing crisis. Some things you may want to know about development in Glencullen-Sandyford:
- 4,611 homes built since 2016
- 2,000 homes under construction
- 1,300 homes with full planning permission, but not started
- 702 homes awaiting a planning decision
- enough already-zoned land for approx another 2,000 homes
This is not counting over 3,000 homes under construction in neighbouring areas like Cherrywood, Leopardstown, Carrickmines and Dundrum.
Government are leaving us on read when we ask for better public transport and more local school places, but think we’re on speed dial when they need more help towards national housing targets.
