Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to introduce a new voids programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24659/25]

David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Deputy McGrath is substituting for Deputy Devlin.

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for facilitating my taking of this question. I would appreciate it if the Minister would outline his plans to introduce a new voids programme.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new voids programme and work is under way in my Department to develop and roll out that programme. As Minister, my focus is on building on the strong progress made over recent years in tackling local authority vacancy levels, which was supported and enabled by significant Exchequer funding for my Department over the past ten years and in particular since 2020. In total, more than €360 million has been recouped to local authorities since 2014 under the voids programme, which has supported the refurbishment and re-letting of 25,672 dwellings.

Given the very positive impact of that investment it is expected local authorities should have dealt with legacy vacancy issues by now. They should therefore be in a strong position with respect to long-term vacancy and be able to further the transition to a strategic and planned approach to stock management and maintenance, with the ongoing support of my Department. With this in mind, it is my intention the new voids programme will have 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. Non-essential works should be carried out under the local authority’s planned maintenance programme informed by stock condition surveys, whereby all housing components are on an inspection, repair and replacement cycle.

While the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock is legally a matter for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, the approach being developed is necessary to ensure a strategic approach to the management and maintenance of the housing stock informed by stock condition surveys is in place and that vacancies are turned around quickly.

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and welcome his commitment to vacant housing and the voids. The figure of more than €300 million since 2014 is very significant. I very much welcome the Minister's statements on a commitment to a prompt turnaround of properties, ensuring only essential work is carried out so those houses can be re-let quickly and that any other work that is non-essential can be done through a planned maintenance programme. That is critically important. The Minister knows full well nothing frustrates people more than seeing vacant housing in local authority areas. We need to continue to work hard to ensure it does not happen. It was debated in the Dáil earlier this week and the Taoiseach addressed the issue also. It really is inexcusable in a housing crisis that there are properties lying vacant for up to 12 months and in some cases beyond that. I welcome the Minister's commitment and hope we can make progress in the near future.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy again for raising the question. I assure him the Government commitment is there to ensure we have a planned maintenance programme for our local authority stock. The largest-ever voids programme was funded by the previous Government in 2020 and the Department provided uncapped funding for those dwellings vacant for more than 12 months in 2020. Subsequently it was acknowledged that legacy vacancy should have been dealt with and a more streamlined programme has been implemented to support the works necessary to meet rental standards. We want to encourage local authorities to have a consistent basis of turning these voids around as quickly as possible. Some local authorities are very effective and some not so much. Legacy vacancies should have been resolved. There is little or no reason for these voids not to be turned around as quickly as possible when they are vacated. Works carried out should be what is necessary to turn those voids around, whereas the challenge is some local authorities are taking significant time to address them by carrying out substantial works that quite frankly are not necessary to re-let a property.

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister said, there is a significant difference between some of the local authorities. He referred to counties Laois and Kerry, for example, between which there is a significant disparity. That is something we certainly have to delve into because how some local authorities can do it much faster than others needs to be examined to see how best practice can be applied across the local authority sector. The longer a house is vacant, the more disrepair it falls into and the more problematic it becomes. It is unsightly in an area and can result in antisocial behaviour. For a multitude of reasons we need to turn these properties around quickly, not least because we have a large number of people waiting for properties and allocations. It really is critically important. Non-essential work can wait, essential work needs to be done and we need to get the houses reoccupied. I appreciate many local authorities take the opportunity to do deep retrofits and so on, including energy retrofits, but these can be done at another time. We need to get the houses reoccupied. That has to be our highest priority.

David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Broin has a supplementary question.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I thought the Taoiseach's comments on this issue on Tuesday were deeply disappointing. Talking about a "dependency culture" and local authorities asking for "handouts" misunderstands the problem. There are three issues I urge the Minister to take into account when looking at the delays in casual re-lets. The first is the amount of funding per unit is not sufficient in many cases, especially when the stock has been lived in for a lengthy period. The second is the time it is taking local authorities to receive approval from the Department is too long. I talk to local authority officials and it can be six months before they get approval. The third issue is procurement rules are too rigid. Anything that will speed this process up we will support but the Minister cannot blame the local authorities as there is a lot that is directly related to the him, his funding allocations and his departmental rules and that needs to change as well.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Again, getting these voids back into play as quickly as possible is essential. Record funding is provided for the local authorities. There is inconsistency across them; there is no question about that. Some local authorities take the view of ongoing maintenance that when the property is vacated it is got back into a state where it can be re-let as quickly as possible. Other local authorities seem to take a considerable time assessing those properties and some carry out a very large amount of refurbishment work that quite frankly is not necessary. The property just needs to be brought back to a condition where it can be re-let. It should be in that condition anyway when it is being vacated, unless the previous tenants have done something untoward, which is very rare. In my experience, social housing tenants are excellent tenants. We are going to get under the hood in the local authorities where these delays are happening and ensure these voids are being brought back and that the best practice the best local authorities are carrying out becomes standard right across the country.