John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the Croí Cónaithe town and village scheme. Prior to the summer recess, I joined the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, at the launch of that scheme. It is an excellent scheme which provides up to €50,000 to bring a derelict or vacant property back into productive use for first-time buyers, essentially in lieu of the help-to-buy scheme which provides a grant of up to €30,000 for new-build homes. However, it does not apply in city areas nor does it apply to one-off rural houses outside a village settlement of about 400 in population. I believe we are missing an opportunity by not widening the scope of the scheme.

The target is to reach 2,000 units before the end of 2025 and a review will be ongoing throughout the scheme. There is enormous demand for this scheme, but we are missing an entire cohort of vacant rural homes that could be tapped into for young people to purchase a home, get the grant of €30,000 or €50,000, combine it with an SEAI energy grant and get themselves on the property ladder while also supporting population increase in rural areas. I think we are missing a trick with it. I will continue to push for that and also for its expansion into the cities. In my county of Waterford we have seen what the repair and lease scheme has done in bringing vacant units back into productive use for social housing purposes. We also need to focus on bringing those vacant and derelict properties back into use for young people to live in and own those properties.