The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, has approved €27 million from the Government's Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF) to advance three new rail stations in Cork and Kildare, a move aimed at removing infrastructure bottlenecks and enabling the construction of more than 12,000 homes close to high-quality public transport.

The stations — at Blarney and Water Rock in County Cork and at Maynooth West in County Kildare — are intended to accelerate housing delivery in designated growth areas by improving connectivity, providing greater certainty to developers and bringing forward large-scale, well-served residential communities.

Minister Browne said: "This €27 million investment demonstrates how strategic infrastructure can support housing delivery.

"By accelerating the delivery of new stations at Blarney, Water Rock and Maynooth West, we are helping to create the conditions for more than 12,000 homes to be built in well-serviced locations with access to high-quality public transport.

"This is about providing the infrastructure needed to support sustainable communities and bringing forward housing delivery where it is needed most.

"For too long, housing-enabling infrastructure projects have been delayed by bureaucracy and red tape but now the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund is changing this by driving a more coordinated approach across Government, removing obstacles, accelerating decision-making and ensuring that critical infrastructure is delivered in step with housing development." Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien TD, added: "I am delighted with the significant investment announced today under the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund, which will materially accelerate the delivery of new train stations in Cork and Maynooth. All the evidence indicates that train stations served by regular and reliable services are among the most effective means of encouraging sustainable housing development in surrounding areas and helping to decarbonise our transport system.

"While these new stations are great news in their own right, they are also part of this Government's wider public transport investment programme and the DART+ and Cork Area Commuter Rail programmes in particular. In the coming months, the first invitations to tender will issue for the DART+ programme and we hope to see construction commence on the DART+ West line, which will serve Maynooth West, before the end of next year.

"In Cork, we have already delivered foundational investments in the rail network at Kent station, and in the form of signalling and double tracking between Glounthuane and Midleton. These two new stations at Blarney and Water Rock add to existing plans to open new stations at Dunkettle and Blackpool, with all four now set to open before the end of 2029."

According to the department, HIIF support at Maynooth West will fund design and development work, with construction potentially beginning in late 2028; without this investment, delivery would slip beyond 2031. The station is expected to facilitate more than 6,000 homes.

Subject to planning approval, Blarney and Water Rock are forecast to enter construction in late 2027 or early 2028 and open in 2029, several years earlier than otherwise possible, with capacity to enable around 3,700 homes in Blarney and a further 2,500–3,000 at Water Rock.

The €27 million package forms part of the Government's €1 billion HIIF, managed by the Housing Activation Office, which finances critical enabling works to remove barriers to residential development. Earlier this year, 82 housing-enabling infrastructure projects nationwide were approved under the fund's first call.