Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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660. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount allocated to Limerick City and County Council to repair void houses in the city and county; the number of voids to be made available for allocation; when the allocation was paid; and when the voids are expected to be available. [42249/18]

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.

Earlier this year, local authorities, including Limerick City and County Council, submitted to my Department details of their work proposals and related funding requirements for this programme in 2018. These proposals were evaluated and Limerick City and County Council were given approval to proceed with refurbishment works to 70 properties under the voids programme, subject to the relevant funding thresholds, which are listed in the following tables. Given the availability of funding, the completion of the works concerned is now a matter for the Council.

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