Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The local authorities have been good at using social media, although some are better than others. We have also seen Deputies and Senators promoting the scheme and I have seen leaflets in local authority offices which ask if people have heard of the repair and lease scheme and if people have a property that they cannot afford to get tenanted. All those channels will be helpful. I will receive an update about how the new scheme is bedding down at the June housing summit.

On the exemptions from planning, because they do not need planning permission it is very difficult to get a sense of what is happening in that area unless one sends people out to every village to see what is happening and then ask why it is happening, how recent it was and whether a planning application was submitted or whether there had been an application for a change of use because of the exemptions that were made. Therefore, getting a solid understanding may be difficult in itself because the very fact that it has been exempted from planning permission means that it no longer goes through a formal route for permission.