Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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772. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will reinstate the refurbishment costs as part of the tenant-in-situ scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24351/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is providing continuing and substantial financial support to local authorities to acquire second-hand properties for priority categories of need including tenants-in-situ who have been in receipt of supports under HAP or RAS and who had received a Notice of Termination.

The €325 million allocation I announced on 31 March 2025 has been made available to our local authorities for their social housing second-hand acquisitions activity in 2025, with individual allocations for the local authorities being notified to them on 1 April 2025. This is part of almost €2 billion in total which is supporting local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver new social homes in 2025. Our main emphasis remains on constructing new homes and that unquestionably, is the correct approach.

It will be a matter for the local authorities to decide how they use this funding within the priority categories being supported by the programme. I am keen that they obtain good value for money in supporting priority tenants and that they maximise the number of acquisitions, which is why I am not making Exchequer funding provision for house refurbishments where there are tenants-in-situ in a property.

Such properties have been and continue to be the beneficiaries of significant Exchequer-funded rent supports through HAP and RAS and are legally required to meet the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and are subject to inspection by local authorities to ensure they meet these standards.

There are a number of funding programmes available for local authorities to improve their social housing stock including the Planned Maintenance Programme and the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme. If a level of refurbishment works are required in the short to medium term, these should be noted as part of the condition survey of the property using the agreed national stock condition survey template and programmed for future planned maintenance works.