Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

130 Chapter 5: Land As shown in Table 5.3, explicit conservation targets exist for built land (via the no net land take target under the EU Soil Strategy, see Chapter 6) and for peatlands and permanent grasslands (under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027). In summary, these targets set out that the extent of artificial surfaces (3.8% according to the National Land Cover Map) should not increase, the peatland area (6.5%) should not decline further and the ratio of permanent grassland to the total agricultural area should not decrease by more than 5%. Current policies and strategies (Table 5.3) include explicit expansion targets for ecosystems, forestry and agriculture and for more built land to provide housing and to service mobility (mostly for the provision of active travel, greenways and increased rail connections). The expansion targets protecting space for nature do not prescribe how land should be used, and this is where land management comes in. The correct land management policy and approach can make it possible for healthy ecosystems to successfully co-exist with land uses such as forestry and agriculture. 3 assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_ie/topics/economics/ey-geodirectory-residential-report-q4-2023.pdf (accessed 25 July 2024). Meeting land use targets Meeting Ireland’s housing targets while adhering to the no net land take target in the EU Soil Strategy (see Chapter 6) will require using vacant or derelict properties (for which there are some explicit targets), increasing the density of development and implementing land recycling (reuse of abandoned, vacant or underused land for redevelopment). Census 2022 found that the increase in housing stock from 2016 to 2022 was equivalent to an average 1% rise per year, while the population rose by 1.2% per year during the same period. As illustrated in Figure 5.8, GeoDirectory, the national address database jointly managed by An Post and Tailte Éireann, identifies over 2.1 million residential dwellings in Ireland. 3 The national residential vacancy rate in June 2023 stood at a record low of 3.9% (81,712 units), and 21,134 address points were classified as derelict. Figure 5.8  Residential dwellings stock Detached, 30.7% =1% Terraced, 28.3% Semi-detached, 24.7% Bungalow, 14.7% Duplex, 1.1% Temporary dwelling, 0.5% Source: GeoDirectory, 2023