Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1658. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has issued directions or guidelines to local authorities with respect to the vacant properties held by banks (details supplied) offered for sale to the Government. [35877/17]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1659. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of vacant homes held by banks (details supplied) that have been offered for sale to the Government since December 2016; and the details of these properties by local authority area. [35878/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1658 and 1659 together.

Since December 2016, the Housing Agency has had offers of properties from one of the banks referred to in the Question.  Many of the properties offered could not be accepted for a number of reasons, including the reason that not all properties were vacant.  

Ultimately, 142 vacant properties have been offered by the bank which have been considered by the Agency. The following table sets out the details of these properties by local authority area.

My Department has not issued any specific direction or guidelines to local authorities with respect to the vacant properties held by banks and offered for sale to the Government.  However, in respect of the onward transfer of properties acquired by the Housing Agency to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), my Department issued a Circular to all local authorities in June, which outlined the mechanism and process that would support the onward transfer of these properties using the existing Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) scheme with some modifications to streamline the programme and ensure maximum efficiency.  The Circular also set out agreed protocols for nomination/allocation of these units and signalled that early tenanting of units would be critical to the success of the fund.

The €70m fund is a revolving fund, which is intended to fund the purchase of 1,600 units under Rebuilding Ireland. The recycling of the fund will be achieved by the Agency selling on the properties to the AHBs as quickly as possible and recouping the monies paid to replenish the fund to support further purchases. Local authorities have a central role in facilitating both the tenanting of units and the purchasing of units by AHBs from the Agency under the CALF scheme.