Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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207. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of housing units built or purchased by each of the 31 local authorities in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9112/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under my Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment and Social Housing Current Expenditure Programmes, funding is provided to local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments.

Details on the number of properties constructed, purchased and leased by all local authorities, for letting to those on their social housing waiting lists are available on my Department’s website at the following link:

www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.

Information on quarter four 2016 is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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208. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the rate of vacant housing units in relation to housing stock belonging to each of the 31 local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9113/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Information on the number of dwellings vacant in each local authority area is set out in reports of the National Oversight and Audit Commission. The most recent report, ‘Performance Indicators in Local Authorities 2015’, is available at the following link: .

The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs and pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, is a matter for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act, 1966 and are not directly funded by my Department.

It should be noted that the Voids programme introduced in 2014, along with the Derelicts programme introduced in 2016, have seen the remediation of approximately 7,200 units between 2014 and 2016. These programmes have provided funding to support the authorities in tackling those houses that may require a greater level of remediation than the normal level of pre-letting repairs, which remain the responsibility of local authorities as part of their on-going repair and maintenance of local authority housing.