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Research summary of the main Irish state authorities and public bodies that provide grants and funding for housing and sustainable energy.

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Housing funding, delivery & regulation bodies

• Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage — Central source of funding for housing schemes and capital programmes. Runs the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS).
• Local Authorities (city & county councils) — Administer the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability, Housing Aid for Older People, Mobility Aids Grant, and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant locally. Main providers of social housing. Also offer the Local Authority Home Loan — a government-backed mortgage for first-time buyers and other eligible applicants who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial lenders.
• Help to Buy (HTB) — Administered by Revenue under the Department of Finance; an income-tax and DIRT rebate of up to €30,000 to help first-time buyers fund the deposit on a new-build or self-build home. Revenue — Help to Buy
• The Housing Agency — Supports the State and all 31 local authorities in housing delivery and acquisitions, acting as a centre of housing expertise; manages schemes such as Mortgage to Rent and Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ. Also regulates Approved Housing Bodies. Delivers the First Home Scheme — a shared-equity scheme in which the State and participating banks fund up to 30% of a new home's price in return for an equity stake, helping first-time and eligible buyers bridge the gap between their mortgage, deposit and the purchase price.
• Land Development Agency (LDA) — Funds and delivers affordable and cost-rental homes on State land.
• Housing Finance Agency (HFA) — Provides low-cost loans/finance to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies for social and affordable housing.
• Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) — Provides development finance/loans to homebuilders for residential construction.
• Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) — Ireland's ~€9.5bn+ sovereign development fund, managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) under the Minister for Finance. Under its "double bottom line" mandate it invests commercially (equity and debt) to crowd in private co-investment, with Housing and Climate among its core impact themes. Its housing programme has committed €2.5bn+ and, having exceeded its original 25,000-homes-by-2030 target early, now targets 50,000 homes by 2030; it also holds Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) within its Directed Portfolio and runs regional urban-regeneration investment in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Kilkenny.

Local-authority Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)

Council-owned companies set up to drive large-scale urban regeneration and strategic-site development that sits outside normal local-authority delivery.

• Limerick Twenty Thirty Strategic Development DAC (LTT) — Established by Limerick City and County Council in 2016 as the first local-authority wholly-owned special purpose vehicle in Ireland. It plans and develops key strategic sites across Limerick city and county (e.g. Opera Square, Gardens International), delivering €500m+ of transformational investment and regeneration, part-financed by the European Investment Bank. limerick2030.ie
• Dublin City Development Corporation (SPV) — A special purpose vehicle being established under Dublin City Council to lead delivery of the Dublin City Taskforce's "10 Big Moves" for regeneration (revitalising O'Connell Street, tackling dereliction), supported by National Development Plan (NDP) funding. An Interim Advisory Board (chaired by David McRedmond) held its inaugural meeting in June 2026, and the taskforce/SPV model is to be extended to other cities, starting with Cork. gov.ie — Dublin City Taskforce

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Note on local-authority SPVs: Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC (Limerick City and County Council) pioneered the wholly council-owned special purpose vehicle model in Ireland, and Dublin City Council's new Dublin City Development Corporation adapts the same approach for large-scale urban regeneration. Both let a council raise finance and deliver strategic-site regeneration through a dedicated company outside its normal structures — and the Government has signalled the model will be extended to other cities (Cork next), making council SPVs an emerging vehicle for major regeneration and delivery.

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Vacancy & dereliction supports

Schemes aimed specifically at bringing vacant and derelict buildings back into use — a fast-growing strand of Irish housing policy, mostly funded by the Department of Housing (largely via the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund) and administered by local authorities. gov.ie — Refurbishing Vacant Property: all supports

• Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund) — Up to €50,000 to refurbish a property vacant for 2+ years as a home or rental, rising to €70,000 where the property is confirmed derelict; amounts are 20% higher on offshore islands (up to €60,000 / €84,000). A further €5,000 conservation-advice grant is available for traditional houses. gov.ie — Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant
• Ready to Build Scheme (Serviced Sites) — Local authorities sell serviced sites in towns and villages to self-builders at up to €30,000 below market value (also funded by the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund). gov.ie — Ready to Build Scheme
• Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme — Bridges the "viability gap" between the cost of building apartments and their market sale price, supporting apartments for sale to owner-occupiers in the five cities and helping reduce urban vacancy and dereliction. gov.ie — Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme