Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this issue, which has featured for some time. It arose during the annual meeting between members of both the Oireachtas and Cork City Council. We discussed the issue of vacant local authority housing. This is relevant to local authorities across the country. There is a shortage of housing and many thousands of families are looking for local authority housing. The number of vacant units in need of refurbishment so as to be fit for letting is increasing. The figure from Cork City Council is that, in the first nine months of last year, 83% of available houses had been repaired. This has now decreased to 51%. In Cork city alone, there are 305 houses that are not being let because there is no funding to upgrade them. It is a no-brainer that we should be making them fit for purpose, because there is no capital funding available to build. There is no house purchase scheme so the local authorities are not adding to their stock. Many of the vacant houses could fall into disrepair and be boarded up. They can become a source of contention for neighbours.

A sum of €15 million was allocated in the budget for a project to address vacant local authority housing. Perhaps the voluntary sector should be involved in this project given its ability to raise funds by means of loans. Will the €15 million be allocated on the basis of the housing stock held by individual local authorities? If so, the main cities - Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford - would receive the largest amounts. When will this money be made available to local authorities to ensure existing local authority dwellings can be made fit for occupation?

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Clune for raising this matter. The Department is committed to supporting local authorities in maintaining and improving the quality of the national social housing stock through a range of measures, including large-scale urban regeneration programmes, improving the standard and energy efficiency of dwellings, pre-letting repairs and improvement and refurbishment works on vacant properties to restore them to productive use as quickly as possible. Making vacant stock available for re-letting was a priority in 2011 and 2012. During that period, the Department focused almost exclusively on refurbishing vacant properties, with the objective of returning as many of these as possible to productive use. As a result, approximately 4,700 units were improved at a cost of over €52 million.

The latest value for money study on management and maintenance of vacant dwellings in local authorities by the local government audit service made a number of sound recommendations on issues such as maintenance and repairs, all of which should help local authorities in implementing improvement works programmes. The best way to ensure that a property does not become void is to have proper, planned maintenance programmes in place. One of the recommendations of the report was that Dublin City Council pilot a term maintenance and refurbishment works contract to significantly reduce the re-letting time for vacant dwellings. This project has been very successful in reducing the average turnaround time from 27.82 weeks to 6.4 weeks. More than 500 units have been completed under this programme to date. In addition, more than 100 units are being refurbished with direct labour.

Given the concentration on vacant properties in recent years and in view of the substantial numbers of vacant properties that have been improved, my Department this year refocused attention on occupied and older dwellings which lack adequate insulation and draught-proofing. On 5 June, the Minister announced a new €50 million three-year energy efficiency investment programme for local authority homes. More than €10 million of this allocation will be spent this year, with a further €25 million to be spent in 2014 and the remaining €15 million to be spent in 2015. This programme will target the 25,000 least energy efficient properties and result in warmer homes and lower energy bills for thousands of families. It will also create approximately 1,000 jobs in the sector. To date, almost 9,000 dwellings have been upgraded under this measure, a figure that exceeds the forecast for the year and is a strong endorsement of the measure.

The additional €30 million Exchequer investment in social housing announced on budget day is expected to deliver some 500 local authority homes for families on the waiting list. Approximately half of this investment will enable the construction of new in-fill developments in areas with the highest demand for social housing. Another €15 million will be invested in bringing long-term vacant and boarded-up units back into social use. Detailed arrangements for the implementation of the two measures are being developed by my Department. It is intended to announce these arrangements as soon as possible, with a view to having the investment programme up and running as early as possible in 2014. The Department will request local authorities to submit proposals for inclusion under both measures in due course.

The 2014 Estimates also include a provision of €79.4 million for the national regeneration programme. The priorities for 2014 include the refurbishment of a substantial number of houses and apartments in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and a number of regional centres. The Minister is confident that the new €15 million programme for refurbishing vacant houses in 2014 will complement the regeneration programme and deliver positive outcomes in terms of value for money and high-quality homes for persons on waiting lists.

Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)
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I emphasise the urgency of addressing this issue. Local authorities are preparing their budgets as we speak and it is important that the funding announced in the budget be made available to them as soon as possible in 2014 in order that they can address the problem of vacant houses.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I will bring the comments of Senator Clune to the attention of the Minister, who regrets that he is unable to attend the House for this debate.