Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Vacant homes officers and their teams are engaging on the issue. In Limerick four people have been assigned to the task. There is even a vacant homes manager. Their job is to proactively chase up vacant properties. I have seen good examples in different counties I have visited where vacant properties have been brought forward. We want the officers in question to do more. That is what we are asking them to do. It involves engaging directly with the owners of properties to find out what has gone wrong. The website, vacanthomes.ie, was set up by Mayo County Council and my Department. It is a useful tool in that regard and over 1,700 homes have been registered on it. It raises awareness of properties and encourages people to work with us to bring forward solutions. There is a range of schemes available which I will not go through. There are many options available through the local authorities. The allocated funding for this year, amounting to around €50,000 per unit, will be announced in the weeks ahead in order that this process can be driven physically on a day to day basis. I understand this is what vacant homes officers are doing in most cases. We have asked them in our meetings with them, when we meet them at housing summits and weekly meetings with local authorities, to focus on this issue and dedicate resources to dealing with it. We are matching that funding with resources from the Department.

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