Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. Yes, we have given directions and guidelines to the local authorities. However, in the interests of absolute clarity, we will write to the local authorities again on this specific area of discretion. On a couple of points, if an application was approved prior to 1 May 2022, the Deputy will probably be aware that applicants have 18 months. We have now extended the scheme from 1 May to rental properties as well.

We want this scheme to be a very successful one. By way of providing information to the Deputies, Dublin City Council has received 240 applications to date, of which 44 have been approved. The average processing time overall is 81 days. I visited the offices of Dublin City Council on Tuesday specifically regarding this area. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has also spoken to the council. We want to see it progress this scheme. It has put additional staff in the area. We very much wish to see a refocusing on dereliction and the Croí Cónaithe scheme itself. It is, therefore, opportune that the Deputies have raised this question now, in that we have met and spoken with representatives of the council concerning this matter.

In terms of Cavan-Monaghan, a situation which will be of interest to Deputy Tully, there were 183 applications in County Cavan, of which 112 have been approved. The processing time is posting at 59 days, which is well below the average. Turning to County Monaghan, there were 111 applications, of which 59 have been processed. The processing time there is 56 days, which is doing very well in this context. I reassure the Deputies, though, that we will write to the local authorities - I will ask officials to do it - in terms of re-emphasising that discretion in this regard is available. We will look at this matter in terms of the overall context of the review.

We want this scheme to be an unqualified success. To date, there has been great interest. This has been the case in urban areas, and the point was well made concerning loan-to-value ratios in this regard. The scheme has been equally successful in rural areas. This is a very straightforward scheme. We want people to go back into homes that have been vacant for more than two years, those built prior to 2008, and we are very pleased with the success of this scheme to date.

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