The Land Development Agency (LDA) is set to get sweeping new powers to bolster the State’s building capacity, BusinessPlus.ie has learned, writes Craig Hughes.

Minister for Housing James Browne will bring a memo to Cabinet today, seeking to expand the remit of the LDA, allowing it to build more private housing and, crucially, purchase more private land.

When it was established in 2018, it had a mandate to construct private housing, but after major political opposition, its remit was limited to building public housing on public land.

In a further bid to make building homes more viable, it is expected Cabinet will be asked to exempt building of cost-rental homes from corporation tax.

Officials in the Department of Finance had been tasked with assessing the measure last week and are understood to have reservations about how such a tax break would operate.

Construction sources have also said they believe there is a potential for such a measure to breach State aid rules.

The LDA has already identified State land capable of being used to build 70,000 homes, but is struggling to access some of it and has been delayed by land not being adequately serviced for housing development in the short term.

The Cabinet will be asked to consider stronger transfer powers for public land owned by commercial State bodies, with some being, so far, reluctant to hand over their land.

The memo will also allow the LDA to deliver housing in more areas around the country.

Ministers will be told the LDA will work with the Housing Activation Office (HAO) in master planning and infrastructure provision in Transport Oriented Development (TOD)/Urban Development Zone (UDZ) projects.

The CEO of the LDA, John Coleman, who appears before the Oireachtas Housing Committee today, had been discussed as a candidate for the housing tsar role to head up the HAO.

But despite Coalition leaders discussing his appointment, Mr Coleman is understood to have ruled himself out of contention for the controversial role.