Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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238. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government in the case of a publican selling their liquor licence and wishing to renovate the premises and turn it into apartments, if there are grants available for the renovation process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7861/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Planning and Development Act (Exempted Development) 2022 Regulations, which I signed into law on 21 February 2022, provide for an exemption from the requirement to obtain planning permission in respect of the change of use of certain vacant commercial premises to residential use, including the conversion of vacant areas above ground floor commercial premises to residential use. These regulations extend the operation of the previous 2018 Regulations in this regard until end 2025. In addition a new class of use eligible to avail of the planning exemption was also included in the regulations – that of public houses (up to a maximum of 9 residential units). This is designed to ease the burden of converting pubs, which are no longer viable and have ceased to operate, to residential accommodation.

My Department has a number of schemes available which are targeted at tackling vacancy.

The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant was launched in July 2022. This provides a grant of up to a maximum of €30,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties, for occupation as a principal private residence, including the conversion of a property which has not previously been used as residential. A maximum top-up grant amount of up to €20,000 is available where the property is confirmed to be derelict.

The repair and leasing scheme is also available and this scheme may be used to convert vacant former public houses into residential accommodation, in return for the property being leased to the local authority for social housing for a period of between 5 and 25 years. Where the local authority is satisfied that there is a social housing need for the completed units, an upfront loan, up to a maximum of €60,000 (including VAT) per unit, is provided to owners of properties which have been vacant for over a year to fund work to bring the units up to the required standard for rental properties. The cost of repairs is offset against reduced lease payments to the property owner and therefore has a neutral cost to the Exchequer.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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239. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide a schedule of the non-commercial and semi-State commercial companies under his aegis; if an explanatory memorandum will be provided in respect of the policy of a dividend payment to the Exchequer from each company; the dividend paid by each company to the Exchequer for each year from 2000 to 2022; if his Department collects the funds and forwards it to the central fund or whether it goes directly; if over that period his Department has requested an increase in respect of the dividend due over it’s percentage shareholding; the number of occasions that it waived the dividend; the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7908/23]