Ms Caroline Timmons:

That adaptive reuse question has been coming up more and more. We are starting to have a good conversation around the use of existing buildings. There is an openness in the Department in that regard. As the committee is already aware, we have planning exemptions for conversion to residential use. Those exemptions have been extended and I believe the highest number of exemptions have come from Dublin City Council. The council is clearly moving on that and making the best possible use of those exemptions. We will see what that will convert to in terms of potential homes.

In additional, the vacant homes grant is available for those properties that are being converted for people who want to take that on. We had a conversation when I was most recently before the committee about the fact that the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the Department have been exploring how we might reuse those buildings for affordable uses. There might be a number of older buildings on some of the sites the LDA is using. We have applied for European funding to examine that under the new Bauhaus project to see can we move that on. We are awaiting the result of our applications. We will be looking at places such as St. Bricin's, and an application in respect of St. Kevin's in Cork has also been made. We are trying to see what we can do to convert those buildings affordably and to make them affordably available for people to occupy. That is an emerging conversation we are all having. It is a good conversation to be having.