A major land-purchase programme, targeting church-owned and other institutional sites, is to be initiated by Dublin City Council within the next six months, council chief executive Owen Keegan has said.

Under the land-purchase programme, the council would focus on acquiring well-located sites, which were not currently zoned for housing to avoid paying a premium for residentially zoned lands. City councillors would then be asked to rezone the lands.

Last year the archdiocese of Dublin sought the rezoning of more than 30 churches in the city and their surrounding lands for housing.

However, Mr Keegan opposed the rezonings.

In a strongly worded statement at the time, the archdiocese said Mr Keegan’s recommendation was “short-sighted and unnecessarily restricts the diocese’s efforts to assist in meeting the city’s housing needs”.

Mr Keegan now says the council would be interested in acquiring some of these sites.