Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question is for the Tánaiste and the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring. A number of years ago, the Government launched the repair and lease scheme to allow properties on high streets to be leased out to social housing tenants. There does not seem to be a proper level of take-up in respect of the scheme. I see it when driving through villages at home in east Cork. There are still many properties in respect of which I thought landlords and owners would have applied to the scheme. Will the Minister comment on this? Could we relax the rules of scheme a bit or introduce an alternative scheme? The village and town renewal scheme was in place approximately 15 years ago. We need to do something in order to have these properties developed. We have ended up with villages and towns affected by the doughnut effect whereby main streets and side streets are empty and there is ribbon development along the sides roads. How can we increase uptake in respect of the scheme?

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