Mr. Patrick O'Sullivan:

Regarding the question on vacant homes, that is a local government initiative supported by the Department. Our colleagues on Mayo County Council are managing it. That it is coming from the local government sector is important. The public can make reports through a website and vacant home offices and teams in the local authority are immediately notified. They can research the vacant homes' ownership and bring the situation to the council's attention so that it can look to the initiatives we have discussed, for example, the repair-and-lease and buy-and-renew schemes, to bring the homes back into use. This approach puts a house on the relevant local authority's radar through reporting it via one website.

I cannot say what specifically has been brought back into use because there are different schemes, but we will be engaging with local authorities at the workshop on Thursday and I will be interested in discussing that point with them.