Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the average time taken in weeks from the date of vacation of dwelling to the date when all necessary repairs are carried out which are deemed necessary to re-let the dwelling, in tabular form, by local authority. [23543/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Statistics on the average re-letting times for local authority social housing are set out in the report of the National Oversight and Audit Commission on Performance Indicators inLocal Authorities, the last published report being for 2014, which is available at the following link: .

This does not capture information on the average refurbishment time taken by local authorities. Feedback from local authorities is that the time taken by them to turn around vacant social houses can vary from property to property, depending on the level of refurbishment required in each individual case. Additionally, the funding that my Department provides to local authorities to remediate such properties includes support for the energy retrofitting of the property. While this may add to the work required to remediate a house, it is an important upgrade to the property which brings notable fuel efficiency advantages to the incoming tenant.

The Government’s new housing action plan, the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which I launched this week, includes commitments in respect of the better management of social housing stock, in line with best asset management practices, so that the re-letting of vacant social housing units is achieved with minimal delay.