Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are approximately 70,000 vacant homes which could be the target of public policy. Remarkably, 12.5% of those homes in Waterford have been put back into use. In most counties, the figure is around 1%. Good practice in local authorities makes a difference. Can the Minister give momentum to that? Will he extend, for example, the repair and leasing scheme to cost-rental homes, in other words, affordable homes, as well as social homes? That is a real target of public policy now and we should allow those schemes to have that flexibility.

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