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

I will certainly engage with the local authority to see what the issue is and to see if there is any confusion. There is no confusion on my part. We wrote all local authorities in September to ask them to bring forward any additional voids they have. If work is completed by 14 December, this will be covered under the budget as well. More than 1,800 voids will be refurbished this year. Deputy Quinlivan mentioned 70 houses. I confirm that funding was secured for 70 houses. It has not been drawn down yet so perhaps there is some issue there. We will look into it. Properties should not be vacant and families should not be left waiting.

An additional €700,000 was allocated in the past couple of months in order for other properties to be refurbished. The council has also done well with the repair and lease back scheme. There is something wrong if properties are vacant. They should not be vacant. If there is any confusion, I am happy to bring people together and sort it out because the funding is there. I cannot make it any clearer than that. We want the money spent and we want people in these properties. There is no excuse any more for long-term voids. There will always be cases where voids will be empty for some months as refurbishment takes place. However, there is no excuse for long-term voids in circumstances where houses were allocated a year and a half ago. That is something we will certainly deal with as well.

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