The Land Development Agency (LDA) has said it has submitted four recent planning applications that if approved, will deliver over 2,300 homes in schemes that will be 100% affordable and social housing.
The applications in Dundrum, Balbriggan, Skerries and Naas have been submitted to An Bord Pleanála for consideration.
In an update on its activities, the agency said it is making "good progress" on its development pipeline since the Government's Housing for All policy was published in September.
Under Housing For All, the LDA is the State’s primary channel for the development of cost rental housing, with a mission to unlock State land and make more efficient use of it to deliver large-scale affordable housing projects.
Its biggest proposal relates to plans for 977 new homes on the site of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.
A further 817 new homes are proposed for a 25-hectare site in Balbriggan, while in Skerries the LDA is seeking to build 345 homes in Hacketstown on a greenfield site.
Finally, the LDA has applied to deliver 219 new homes on the Devoy Barracks site in Naas, Co Kildare.
"These four applications have been progressed following extensive community consultation, and close collaboration with Local Authority project partners," said John Coleman, CEO of the LDA.
"I'm very pleased that since Housing for All was published we’ve been able to make very tangible progress in fulfilling our mission to give a fair deal to the many thousands of people who currently struggle to meet their housing needs in an affordable way," he added.
Next month the LDA said it expects to start enabling works to prepare the former St Kevin's Hospital site for a redevelopment scheme that will deliver 265 new social and affordable homes for Cork.
In Shanganagh, south Dublin, it said construction will commence later this year on the State’s largest affordable housing scheme to date, with 597 new homes planned.
The LDA said it is also making good progress on its Project Tosaigh initiative to deliver 5,000 new homes by unlocking land in private ownership that has full planning permission but where delivery has stalled due to financing and other constraints.
It said proposals from potential partners are currently under consideration through a formal expressions of interest process, with an announcement of the first schemes expected shortly.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Coleman said the LDA is delivering directly on State lands which takes time as often there is no planning history and they have to be brought through the "whole process and procurement.".
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"We realise we need to accelerate delivery. The lands we have from the State should yield delivery from 2024 and onwards."
He said before then another initiative they are working on in partnership with builders to deliver affordable housing should see results later this year.
Mr Coleman said there should be clarity on the total figure over the next couple of months but gave a ballpark figure of "in the hundreds."
He said there is no easy solution to the rising building costs and the industry will have to adjust to this over time, which may mean increased costs for the LDA in terms of delivery.
He said inflation was considered when Housing for All was launched and the initial €2.5bn budget for the LDA has been increased to €3.5bn.
In a statement, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien said he is "very pleased" to see the work the LDA is doing to progress its project pipeline.
"We know that the design and planning process takes time, so it’s important to see momentum building, which will ensure that the state land under the LDA’s control is used to address this critical issue," he said.
"As the LDA ramps up its activities it is set to become the largest housebuilder in the state, reaching a scale of over 1,500 new homes each year in the medium term," he added.
