Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is all great and very welcome. We are coming out of a decade of undersupply of homes in the city, accepting that the greatest need is here in the city. It is welcome that the Croí Cónaithe scheme grant to deal with vacant properties has been made available in the city, but this is very much dependent on owner occupiers and individuals. It will deliver some homes, though, and the tenantin situ scheme is really going to help as well and for the first time make affordable homes available for renters.

What about the adaptive reuse aspect, though? DCC has established a department in this regard, showing great initiative, to look at vacant commercial properties and to reuse and repurpose them. Tuath Housing has a great example out in Park West. There are also some other smaller scale examples. It strikes me, though, that in the city, post Covid-19, given the vacancy level in commercial buildings, councils should be further resourced to scale up and try to take advantage, on a cost-rental basis, of those vacant properties. Is this something the Department can support or is supporting?