Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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605. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on whether reconstituting derelict public buildings as apartments such as the former Our Lady's Hospital in Ennis might make a useful contribution to dealing with the social housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41464/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness has put in place the funding resources to accelerate the delivery of social housing for all local authorities. Critically, €5.35 billion in Exchequer investment has been secured to support its implementation and to deliver 47,000 social housing units through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, over the period to 2021. 

This level of national funding to implement Rebuilding Ireland's targets means that funding is available to all local authorities to advance their housing delivery. Within the overall 21,000 social housing solutions targeted for delivery this year, some 4,500 of these will be delivered through new builds, acquisitions and refurbishments and a significant proportion of these will involve new construction.

With regard to vacant property specifically, there are a number of measures under Pillar 5 of Rebuilding Ireland that are aimed at reinforcing the Government's commitment to the area of urban regeneration by promoting the re-use of vacant housing stock for social housing purposes. These measures include:  

- the Repair and Lease Initiative, which provides funding to the owners of vacant properties for their refurbishment and subsequent long-term leasing to local authorities for social housing purposes;

- the Buy and Renew Scheme, which facilitates local authorities to purchase and renew housing units in need of remediation and make them available for social housing use; and

- the purchase, by the Housing Agency, of vacant buy-to-let properties on the portfolios of financial institutions and investors for social housing use.

Moreover, I have established a dedicated Empty Homes Unit in my Department to drive and coordinate actions at central and local government levels and to support local authorities in their actions to bring vacant properties and homes back into use. I have asked all local authority Chief Executives to designate vacant homes officers in each of their respective local authorities to examine Census 2016 and other data on vacant homes in their areas and identify, through a Vacant Homes Action Plan, priority “vacant hot-spot” areas and properties that can be quickly brought back into use.

Furthermore, a dedicated website (www.vacanthomes.ie) has been developed by Mayo County Council on behalf of the local government sector, as a central portal for individuals to anonymously log possible vacant properties and alert local authorities who can then follow up with the owners to see whether the house can be re-used quickly. The website will also provide some useful information for property owners on how to bring their house back into use.

With regard to the former hospital mentioned in the question, Our Lady's Hospital in Ennis, and the potential to reconstitute it as apartments for social housing use, I understand that the site is now in private ownership. My Department continues, however, to work with all State bodies to ensure, where appropriate, housing is delivered from State-owned sites that are available for housing development.