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

On 11 November 2021, the former Minister informed me in a parliamentary question answer that the stock audit would take place across all local authorities and would take four to five years. As the Minister of State pointed out, that would have allowed for a planned maintenance programme for 2022 and 2023 - we are at least two, if not three, years behind schedule - and the voids programme to end. The Minister of State just commented on the voids programme. A maximum of only €11,000 can be claimed per unit under it. Local authorities are leaving the voids, or boarded-up houses, as they should be called, empty for years, destroying communities, causing dirt and antisocial behaviour, and affecting the environment people are living in all because the Government will not give the money. I was in Kevin Street flats and Pearse Street flats yesterday. It is a disgrace that the Government is not giving the money. There 79 apartments between the two blocks that are empty right now. Across the whole State, there are more than 4,000 board-up houses and the Government has only allocated enough to do less than half - 45% - yet the Minister of State is talking about planned maintenance.

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