John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Every local authority is engaging with the scheme and has paid out grants but, as I said, processing times at both the front end and back end of the process vary from local authority to local authority. That is a challenge. We are working with local authorities to ensure all of them come within a much shorter range than is the case at the moment. We will continue to work with the local authority sector from a financing perspective in terms of the staffing required, and every local authority has a vacant homes officer and has been provided with €100,000 for support and administration of this grant scheme. An excellent scheme has been introduced by the Government, with16,000 applications, 12,000 approvals and 4,500 grants paid out. That is 4,500 vacant and derelict homes that now have families and individuals living in them today, with up to €70,000 in grant support provided by the Government.

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