Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I agree with the Deputy. Our focus is on vacant properties and each local authority is required to prepare an improvement plan for such properties. Better and more flexible grants are available this year and the €35,000 measure is available to deal with vacant properties which require a different level of work in order to return them to productive use.

This is a time when we are strapped for cash and there are clear difficulties so it is important that all our household units are in service and being allocated. In capital funding, the priority is focusing on the regeneration and remedial works discussed earlier and remedial works within reduced resources. With local authorities we are focusing on using funding to maximise the number of units in service at any time. That is critical. I spent almost 19 years in local government and we did not get money from the Exchequer to effect repairs. The Deputy may also have spent some time in that area. We are providing €18,000 per unit to improve standards and energy efficiency and up to €35,000 for units which are in poor condition. In exceptional circumstances, such as where a property has suffered fire damage, the local authority may claim up to a maximum of 60% of the costs of demolition and rebuilding. In the context of straitened economic circumstances, the Department has focused on this area as a priority because of the huge social housing list. It is contrary to our policy objectives to allow local authority housing to remain boarded up. Such units attract unwanted elements and give rise to all sorts of issues for those who live in the same estate. Boarded up houses can become a magnet for problems that affect good people who are trying to pay their way and repair their own houses.

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