Ms Caroline Timmons:

Yes, it is an area we have been interested in. We have been talking about it for a while now. An application has been submitted for European funding for a project on adaptive reuse. I think DCC is involved in that undertaking, along with the local authority in Cork. This is an interesting area to try to mirror some of what is happening at European level in respect of the New European Bauhaus initiative and making adaptive reuse a reality. We also have urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, moneys coming forward, amounting to €150 million. This will be available to local authorities specifically for vacancy and dereliction projects. We would like to see what local authorities can do in this space. We are actively looking at adaptive reuse as one of the ways we wish to see properties coming back into use that may not have been residential before.

The vacant homes grant, as a property grant, is for residential use but also old pubs and properties like that. They can re-adapted and brought forward as well. We are open to any of those areas. It is very important that Housing for All has a full chapter dedicated to making sure we have proper use of existing buildings. It is part of the matrix of what we are looking at.