Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of vacant housing units in counties Longford and Westmeath. [34395/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not hold the 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, and a breakdown of the percentage vacancy rate for each county is indicated in the paper. The Housing Agency paper is available at:  .

The results of the 2016 Census conducted last April will provide more up-to-date information on the number of vacant units in Ireland, and initial published summary returns from the enumerators indicate a figure of 198,358 vacant residential properties, excluding holiday homes.  However, these figures need to be explored further, and 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 Homelessness undertakes 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 three times 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.