Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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798. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the tenant-in-situ scheme in Cork city; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29540/25]

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.

For 2025, Government has increased the funding available for second hand social housing acquisitions from the €60m allocated under Housing for All to €325m through the allocation of an additional €265m. The €325 million allocation has been made available to our local authorities for their social housing second-hand acquisitions activity in 2025, and 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.

It is a matter for the local authorities to decide how they use their funding allocation within the priority categories being supported by the programme. To date local authorities have only drawn down 25% or c.€80m of the €325m funding allocated to them for second hand acquisitions in 2025. Cork City have been allocated €20m under the programme of which only €6.9m (35%) has been drawn down to date.

I have asked our local authorities to use the full range of options for tenants-in-situ who have received a Notice of Termination and while acquiring the landlord’s property is one option, it is not the sole option. In some cases, local authorities might use the thousands of new social allocations that they make each and every year, to provide a new tenancy for the families they are supporting.

There is a record level of investment which is being provided for the delivery of Housing in 2025, with overall capital funding available of €6.8 billion. The capital provision is supplemented by a further €1.65 billion in current funding to address housing need. Our main emphasis remains on constructing new homes and that unquestionably, is the correct approach.

My Department continues to work with all local authorities, including Cork City Council, to address any challenges which have emerged in order to ensure that tenant in situ acquisitions remain an option in 2025 where no other solutions exist.