Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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304. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of vacant and-or derelict buildings and houses each local authority has acquired in the past four years to date in 2018, in tabular form; the number that were subsequently used to house those on housing lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7967/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides funding to local authorities to acquire a range of properties for social housing use. The properties involved can range from those in good condition to those that need remediation and may have been vacant. The acquisition of properties for social housing is largely delegated to local authorities so they can respond flexibly to all opportunities to provide new social housing.

Given the delegated sanction afforded to local authorities, my Department does not hold information on the precise condition, including the level of dereliction, of the many properties acquired over the past four years for social housing use.

More recently, my Department has introduced the Buy & Renew scheme to provide further opportunity for local authorities to acquire and remediate suitable properties for social housing use and to complement the Repair & Lease Initiative. During 2017, provisional information shows that funding provided by my Department to local authorities supported the purchase of approximately 70 such homes under the Buy & Renew scheme, details of which are set out in the following table.

I expect that over the course of 2018, further progress will be made in this area as local authorities close sales on properties identified during 2017 and put in place arrangements for their remediation to make them suitable for social housing use.