Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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112. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department will put in place guidelines to local authorities for the reletting of casual vacancies setting a maximum timeframe within which a house must be relet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34647/25]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he agrees that it is totally unacceptable in a housing crisis for a local authority to take up to one year to relet a residential property; if he will engage with local authorities to ensure the efficiency of their procedures in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34648/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 113 together.

The Programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new voids programme, to include mandatory voids frameworks for local authorities so as to improve turnaround time of vacant local authority housing stock. Work is underway in this regard within the statutory framework set out in section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, which provides that local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties.

Furthermore, my Department has been working with local authorities and AHBs to identify opportunities to reduce the time it takes for a social housing home to be allocated and tenanted. Consultation and analysis with stakeholders as part of that work concluded that there are a range of circumstances that could impact the length of time a property remains vacant. It is critical that the allocation systems and procedures utilised by local authorities and AHBs operate to ensure that there is no avoidable delay in households in need of accommodation being provided with these homes. The standardisation of procedures around existing good practice represents the greatest opportunity to achieve efficiencies in the end-to-end allocation process and eliminate avoidable delays which could result in a property remaining vacant. My Department is working with local authorities and the Housing Agency to refresh guidance and training for local authorities in this area in order to embed best practice, and improve data gathering and reporting.