Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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539. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of voids in each county; the number that have been refurbished since January 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28649/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Voids Programme, introduced in 2014 by my Department, provides additional support to local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. The purpose of the Voids Programme is to ensure that vacant units are actively targeted, with a view to minimising the turnaround and re-let time of these units and return them to use in an energy efficient condition. Without substantial refurbishment, these social homes would have been left vacant and in turn would not be part of the active social housing stock.

Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966 provides that 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, is a matter for each individual local authority.

My Department does not hold information on the number of outstanding voids in each county, as this number changes according as the refurbishment of some units is completed and others become vacant. Statistics in relation to social housing stock are collated by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in their annual reports on Performance Indicators in Local Authorities. These statistics are set out by local authority and include the percentage of such dwellings that were vacant at the end of the year, with the last year for which the statistics are available being 2016. This report is available at the following link: .

The report on social housing activity for Quarter 1 of 2018, which includes information on the number of vacant units refurbished under the programme, is currently being compiled and will be published in the coming weeks.

My Department is continuing to engage on an ongoing basis with local authorities with a view to progressing measures to bring as many vacant and underutilised properties as possible back into use.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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540. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the process for using State-owned lands for housing; when he expects building to commence particularly in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28650/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The development of any residential land in housing authority ownership is in the first instance a matter for the local authority concerned, including its elected members. I want to see local authorities realise new social and affordable homes from their lands without delay, with particular emphasis on prioritising those sites with the greatest potential to deliver housing at scale, in the short to medium term.

To this end, details of some 1,700 hectares of land in local authority and Housing Agency ownership were published on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map. The map also includes details of some 300 hectares of land in the ownership of other State or semi-State bodies, with the potential to deliver a further 7,500 homes. Importantly, we have large sites in Dublin, Cork and other key urban areas where housing and homelessness pressures are greatest. All these sites can be viewed at the following link:

Many local authorities have well-developed plans for many of their sites. Backed by €6 billion in Exchequer funding under Rebuilding Ireland, significant progress is being made in ramping up the social housing programme. The most recent details of the social housing construction programme are published on the Rebuilding Ireland website and can be accessed at the following link: .

In addition, local authorities in Dublin are bringing forward major sites for mixed-tenure development such as the 900 homes at Kilcarbery in Clondalkin, where procurement will be finalised in the Autumn, and O’Devaney Gardens, a site capable of delivering 600 homes in the City Council area where the procurement process is moving into competitive dialogue stage and should be finalised in early 2019. Proposals for other key sites across Dublin are also being developed.

With regard to the provision of affordable homes to buy or rent, early indications from the key local authorities identified lands for 4,000 affordable homes and we are working to increase this ambition to 10,000 homes in the longer term. In order to support local authorities to get their sites ready for affordable housing, I am providing increased funding of €75 million for enabling infrastructure, via the Serviced Sites Fund. I have recently invited applications under the Fund.

Furthermore, I have now commenced the relevant provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the effect of which is to place the new scheme for affordable purchase on a statutory footing.