Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

The management and maintenance of local authority social homes, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementing a planned maintenance programme and carrying out responsive repairs are matters for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities are also statutorily required to ensure all their tenanted homes comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Notwithstanding these obligations, my Department provides annual funding under the planned maintenance and voids programme to support local authority management and maintenance programmes.

Since 2014 to the end of 2024, over 25,600 vacant social homes were brought back into productive use through an investment of more than €361 million. Some €31 million will be provided in 2025, supporting the refurbishment and re-letting of a minimum of 1,900 social homes, facilitating the quick turnaround of vacant homes and continuing the transition from a reactive voids approach to a planned maintenance approach. Funding will further increase in 2026 and, under a revised voids programme, will focus on the prompt turnaround of casual vacancies and reductions in the level of overall vacancy in the local authority housing stock, while also contributing to stock conditions surveys and supporting works arising from these surveys. This funding should complement local authorities' own resources, and should not be viewed as a substitute for local authority funding or for the requirement for adequate budgeting for housing management and maintenance by local authority officials and elected members as part of their annual budgetary process.

Data on delivery under the 2025 planned maintenance and voids programme, and local authority allocations for 2026, will be available early next year. It is my intention to introduce a new voids programme with a renewed focus on prompt turnaround and re-letting of vacant units by focusing only on those works necessary to ensure compliance with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019.

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