Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)

I thank the Senator for his contribution. As I said, I am only taking this Commencement matter for the Minister of State, so I am not very familiar with the issues the Senator raised. However, if he wants to send on to me any concerns he has about the area he mentioned, I will pass them on to the Minister and ensure the Minister gets back to him with a response.

As I said earlier, the Department of housing is committed to ensuring tenants in social housing are provided with adequate housing that meets the standards laid down in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. The Department engages with all relevant local authorities on a regular basis regarding the progression of funding applications across all available funding streams for the regeneration of ageing complexes. In particular, there continues to be ongoing engagement with Dublin City Council on the regeneration of inner city flat complexes. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and the carrying out of retrospective repairs are matters for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authority officials and elected members have an important role to play in this regard by making adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and ongoing maintenance, utilising the significant housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.

Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities, the Department of housing provides funding under a number of stock improvement programmes, namely, planned maintenance, voids and energy efficiency retrofit programmes and disabled persons grants. If the Senator passes on the details to me or the Minister, I will make sure he gets a response. I thank him for his contribution.