Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We both acknowledge that the voids programme is an important piece of work. It is much cheaper for a local authority to get an empty social housing property that has been vacant, and could be vacant for a long time, back into use than it is to build a new property. When such homes become part of the social housing stock, people can be housed in them. It is important, in the interests of smart investment of public funding, to ensure local authorities are doing their work and managing their stock efficiently. The voids programme has brought over 8,000 units, which might otherwise not be in use today, back into social housing use. The difference between the NOAC figures and what we are doing is that the money we provide as funding for the voids programme is separate from what NOAC is counting. Some of the houses NOAC counted in 2014 might have been part of the 2016 and 2017 voids programmes. There is no discrepancy between the numbers. We fund the voids programme for local authorities to bring vacant units back into use. In my initial reply, I gave the Deputy the numbers for 2015, 2016 and to date in 2017. Over 8,000 homes have been remediated since 2014. We still have a voids programme to complete under Rebuilding Ireland over the next three years. This will bring more voids back into use. As we get towards the end of Rebuilding Ireland, that number will decrease dramatically as we reach a point where most voids are back in use and local authorities are managing their stock much more efficiently.

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