A Land Development Agency (LDA) report has identified 102 publicly owned sites that could deliver between 11,000 and 71,000 homes.
The LDA is required to submit a report every two years on public land that is potentially suitable for housing in towns with a population of over 10,000.
The report which was approved by Cabinet today also focused on 32 parcels of land where homes could be built relatively quickly.
These sites could deliver between 11,000 to 15,000 homes over the next seven years.
To date, agreement has been reached with other State bodies to transfer 11 of these sites to the LDA.
Minister for Housing James Browne has said that his officials will now meet all the site owners, consult widely, and make recommendations regarding further potential sites for transfer to the LDA.
However, he told colleagues that decisions by Government to transfer sites to the LDA does not always deliver land quickly for housing.
Many sites agreed for transfer are stalled due to the need to move existing operations to new locations.
Councils instructed to rezone more land for homes
Housing Minister James Browne has instructed local authorities to revisit their development plans to rezone significantly more land for homes.
The Minister wants councils to have this land rezoned by the end of the year and he vowed to have the necessary legislation which will allow it to happen passed within weeks.
It follows the Cabinet approval today of the new National Development Framework (NDF) that will now go before the Dáil and Seanad.
"I expect local authorities to move with the urgency that I am moving with....so they can do it within a few months," the Minister said.
The Housing Minister wants to see what he termed the "right number of homes in the right places - including new sustainable communities at brownfield and greenfield locations along existing or planned high capacity public transport corridors."
The NDF is planning for a population of 6.1 to 6.3 million people by 2040, and to provide approximately 50,000 homes annually over that period.
However, Sinn Féin's Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin believes that annual figure is far too low.
He said it flies in the face of all the evidence and it is at odds with the recommendations of the Housing Commission.
