Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)

Across Kilkenny, almost 100 council-owned homes lie empty. Over 60 of them will remain empty throughout 2025. Almost one third have been boarded up for over a year. Dozens of families and people in dire need of housing have been blocked from a home of their own this year. While the Government will try to pass the blame on to the local council, the fault and blame lies solely at the feet of the Government and Minister for housing.

The black and white reality is Kilkenny County Council does not have the funds to turn these homes around. For each vacant council home, central government gives the council a mere €11,000 to get that home fit for tenancy. Giving just €11,000 to bring a house up to spec shows how utterly removed the Government is from the real cost of building works. It is an insult to the council and the people of Kilkenny. This housing crisis is devastating families and workers across the State. To see dozens of council-owned homes lying vacant across Kilkenny and over 2,500 lying vacant across the State drives home that this is not a priority for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. If it was and there was political will, local councils would be appropriately funded and would not be given the pence they are currently given.

Sewerage and water treatment facilities are a fundamental requirement of expanding communities and building new homes but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in their wisdom, did not see fit to provide the necessary infrastructure in the upgrading of facilities across Kilkenny and Carlow. As a result, many prime sites for building are left untouched and towns across Carlow and Kilkenny are left paralysed. We have to invest in the basics because without them villages like mine of Knocktopher and others across the State are dying on their feet. Shops, pubs, etc., are closing. It is ripping the heart out of communities. It is laughable for the Government to say housing is its number one priority. We are in the middle of a housing crisis. It is time to start acting like it.

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