Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. A total of 2,300 units were returned to use in 2014 and 1,000 units are targeted for 2015 so there has been a lot of progress. There are issues that relate specifically to the city centre that I have seen myself. We have spoken with Dublin City Council about them. In 2014, Dublin City Council returned 467 units to service. Fingal County Council brought 165 units into play while South Dublin County Council brought 92 units back into service. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council does not have many such units. Somebody else is usually bringing them back into play, not the taxpayer. However, the council brought back five units. Cork City Council brought 212 units back into service while Cork County Council brought back 155 so quite a volume of them have been brought back into service. A total of €5 million is there for voids in the 2015 budget. We are adamant that the voids programme is critical because one gets stock back into place very quickly. I always concentrate on this issue. I have gone as far as identifying voids myself and bringing them to the attention of local authorities to be turned around.