Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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236. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of empty homes officers employed by each local authority. [38128/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities have designated Vacant Homes Officers to act as a central point of contact and to provide information and advice for owners of vacant homes and also to deal with queries from members of the public in respect of private residential vacant properties in their administrative area.

My Department has provided funding for each local authority (€50,000 per annum, for a period of two years (i.e. a total of €100,000 to each local authority for 2018 and 2019)) to support the work of a Vacant Homes Office. The provision of central funding will allow for focus to be given to the role of the Office in establishing a co-ordinated approach towards the implementation of their Vacant Homes Action Plans and will reinforce the capacity of my Department’s Vacant Homes Unit to liaise with and seek information/statistics from a dedicated contact point within each local authority. The Vacant Homes Office is expected to play a key role in the co-ordination of this work within the local authority.