Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 5 May, the Minister of State confirmed to me through a response to a parliamentary question that he had no targets for social housing voids and that local authorities should set them. On 26 April, the Minister confirmed to me, again through a response to a parliamentary question, that he had not instructed local authorities to set targets for any area of vacancy, either voids or private, but that it would be kept under consideration. Overall targets for Housing for All, as the Minister of State has just outlined, are for 5,500 homes by 2025, with 2,500 of those through local authority purchase of vacant homes and 2,000 through the Croí Cónaithe fund. The GeoDirectory in quarter 4 of 2021 showed that there were more than 90,000 vacant homes in the State. The Government has set a target of 6% of these. The Minister has confirmed that there is only one full-time staff member in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage working on the vacant homes unit, which is a reduction of three from the unit was originally set up, and that has no idea of how many staff he intends to employ. This was confirmed through a reply to a parliamentary question on 5 May. This Minister is now two years into the job. He has not set any targets. He has no plans and he has failed to deliver on vacancy.

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