Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has asked three questions. I have already said that 1,331 affordable units have been approved under the social housing leasing initiative. The local authorities and the voluntary bodies have acquired 289 and 313 private properties, respectively. As I have said, applications in respect of hundreds of other private properties are being processed at present. The scheme has had some success in the short period since it was established.

The Deputy also asked about vacant houses. I accept that all types of figures have been cited in the public media recently. We understand, on the basis of information compiled on a professional basis by our researchers, that the normal number of empty dwellings was exceeded by between 122,000 and 147,000 at the end of 2009. Deputies will appreciate that there are always houses that someone has bought but not yet moved into, for example. Such vacancies are short-term, by and large. Our figures are usually pretty accurate. I appreciate that people on the academic side have said there are 300,000 vacant houses. The report prepared for us by DKM provided estimates of total stocks of empty properties of between 228,000 and 253,000. The number of houses that are available for use is in region of 122,000.

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