Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with the Deputy's analysis of the Government's response to vacancy and dereliction. The vacant homes action plan progress report 2025 highlighted the breadth of action the Government is taking to support bringing vacant properties back into use as homes. Key areas of progress include the successful delivery of the vacant property refurbishment grant, with over 11,300 applications received, 7,700 approvals and over 1,400 grants issued as refurbishment works are completed. That amounts to €77 million paid out to support people bringing empty dwellings back into use as homes.

I have seen this all over the country. I have seen villages that had three or four derelict properties now without any derelict properties because people have availed of the derelict grants.

This is a very innovative approach that was taken by the last Government. It was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I was a strong supporter of it. It is a game-changer in respect of many derelict properties the length and breadth of the country. The vacant house grant is also quite significant. It facilitates the return of vacant houses as viable homes for people.

The latest available vacancy data from GeoDirectory comes from quarter 4 of 2024 and notes a decrease in the national vacancy rate to 3.8%. That is the lowest recorded since 2013. I take the point that there are different data sources but the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels are reducing.

The standard answer today is more and more funding for everything but, in 2021 and 2022, we gave substantial funding to local authorities to deal with voids in their own local authority housing stock. Local authorities take too long to release homes that have been vacated. When homes are vacated because families have left or moved on for different reasons, it can sometimes take months or a year for the local authorities to fill those houses. They cite all sorts of reasons but it is not good enough. They are now looking for more grants to fill those houses. Voids should be filled fairly quickly. It should happen within a week or two of the house being vacated unless there is some structural issue. In the majority of cases, there are no structural issues because families have been living in them already. We need to keep pressure on where it matters. By all means, resources will be released. The resources being released for social housing, including voids, new builds and acquisitions, are way above anything that has been allocated in the last decade. There is no argument about that. However, there equally should be no argument about local authorities also having a razor-like focus on dereliction within their own domains. Local authorities should use and enforce the Derelict Sites Act. They should also make sure that voids under their remit are filled quickly.

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