Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas le Deputy Ó Cuív as ucht na ceiste. Is cinnte go bhfuil deontas folúntais Chroí Cónaithe ag obair go dian tríd an tír. People have responded to it extremely well with over 7,000 applications and 3,600 approvals. We update it per local authority and we are now building data on one-off homes. Since the scheme was extended to rural homes, we have seen a really big uptake. I have received approval to double our targets this year. I want more grant applications coming in. The average processing time is approximately 11 weeks. We only want two inspections: one at the start and one at the end. I had a meeting with Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann yesterday. We have now seen 14 applications from our islands, which is not insignificant. I have committed to looking at further increasing the grant for islands based on the Deputy's intervention. We should do that because of the additional costs for our islands. We want to make sure that island populations can be regenerated and rejuvenated. I will get that data and send it on to the Deputy.

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