David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witness for that. I want to move on to the second question regarding housing. The witness responded to a question from an Teachta Cassells about the four-stage process in which a local authority applies for funding for social housing and the time it takes for the cheque finally to arrive. My understanding is that the average wait time is about 18 months. That has been a difficulty because there has been some tension between local authorities, CEOs and councils and the Department in terms of money being available, the local authority saying "yes", but the process being very difficult, cumbersome and it taking an awfully long time to draw down the funding.

The witness told us there was a review, which there was. This is the important part. What we need to do is shorten that timeframe down from 18 months. I heard the witness speaking about the changes to a one-stage process for proposals below 15 units and costing less than €2 million or €3 million. The witness might comment on the de-risk element of that. My understanding from local authority CEOs is that the risk is all on the side of the local authority. To stick with the broader issue of the four-stage process, what proposals are in the pipeline at the moment to reduce that timeframe? That is the critical issue here. That is one question on housing.

The second question relates to the acquisition of vacant properties. Does the Department have an analysis of how many vacant properties there are? I understand there are two schemes. One is the repair and leasing scheme. What percentage of vacant properties overall is the Department targeting under that scheme? There is also the Housing Agency acquisition programme. The witness might talk us through what measures are in place. I do not know whether the witness has seen a report from the Simon Community today in which it states the need to make greater use of vacant properties, which I support. There are two issues here: the four-stage process for acquisitions or new builds for local authorities and why it takes so long, and the issue of vacant properties. I ask the witness to address both issues.