Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will provide agencies such as Focus Ireland, the Peter McVerry Trust and the Simon Community with the resources to encourage the owners of identified properties to upgrade them so that they can be brought back into use. There is much talk about boarded up houses and empty properties, particularly in our cities. Some of them are in public ownership but most of them are in private ownership. We have done a lot in terms of reducing the number of voids. Members will be aware of the many regeneration projects that are under way, which requires properties to be vacant for a period. There are a number of properties in rural and urban locations that could be brought back into use for social housing or affordable rental accommodation and we will continue to look at ways of doing that more effectively.

In regard to rapid build, much of the private housing that will be built over the next ten years will be rapid built. Rapid built houses are not the same as modular units. Rapid build is the construction of walls, ceilings, windows and doors in a factory setting, which are then craned to sites and put together. Much of the evidence suggest that these houses meet the standards of triple A rating in terms of energy management systems in a much more consistent way than conventional build because there is far less room for variance and error. What they look like is a different issue.