Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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84. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his estimate of the number of vacant dwellings currently under the control of banks, investment companies and NAMA in tabular form with a breakdown by location, institution type and bed spaces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33180/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not have the detailed information requested by the Deputy. However, in May 2016, the Housing Agency presented a paper in relation to vacant homes in Ireland to the Special Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness which – on the basis of the 2011 Census – indicated there were 230,056 unoccupied residential properties (excluding holiday homes) across the State. This figure includes all vacant homes in the State but no breakdown of this figure is available in respect of vacant dwellings under the control of the banks, investment companies and NAMA. The Housing Agency paper is available at :.

The 2016 Census conducted last April will provide more up-to-date information on the number of vacant units in Ireland, but initial published summary return s from the enumerators indicate a figure of 198,358 vacant residential properties, excluding holiday homes. My Department and the Housing Agency are liaising with local authorities and with the Central Statistics Office in order to obtain a better understanding of up-to-date numbers, characteristics and reasons why such homes are vacant.

Action 5.1 of the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessnessundertakes to develop a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy by early 2017. To this end, the Housing Agency, which has lead responsibility for co-ordinating the development of the Strategy, has established a working group to inform the Strategy, with senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and from the Housing Agency itself. It has met twice so far. A number of local authorities have commenced, or are planning to commence, pilot programmes to identify vacant homes and bring them back into use; these pilot programmes will inform the Strategy. In addition, the Strategy will be informed by international best practice and experience, and research is being undertaken in this area.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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85. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of single person applicants on the housing list in each county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33182/16]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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86. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of single bedroom self-contained units available for persons on the housing list in each county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33183/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 86 together.

Details on the number of households on waiting lists in each housing authority area, including the number of single person households in each area, are provided in the statutory summary of social housing assessments. The most recent figures available are the results of the 2013 summarywhich was carried out on 7 May 2013. These are available on my Department’s website at the following link, and information on single person households is contained in Table A2.5 of the document:

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In accordance with a commitment given in the Social Housing Strategy 2020, the summary will be prepared on an annual basis from 2016 onward. Preparation of the 2016 summary, which will provide up to date figures of national housing need, is well advanced and will be available shortly.

Data on local authority rented housing stock is available on my Department’s website at the following link :

Details of stock for 2014 and 2015 are available by clicking on LA rented stock by area 2014 to date. The stock figures are broken down by house type and local authority area. However, the number of bedrooms in each property is not included in the data collected by my Department.