James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1138 and 1139 together.

Fingal County Council has fully drawn down its €20 million allocation under the 2025 Second Hand Acquisitions Programme, with claims for reimbursement submitted for around €23 million to date.

Some 63 acquisitions have been completed by the council so far this year as follows -

• 61 acquisitions for tenancy sustainment (tenant in situ)
• 1 acquisition for exits from homelessness
• 1 acquisition for housing suitable for persons with a disability or the elderly, and
• no acquisitions for buy and renew to tackle vacancy.

An additional €10 million was allocated in September to support acquisitions by Fingal County Council for households, particularly larger families with children, to exit emergency homeless accommodation into housing. While the council has not drawn down any monies from this allocation to date, any funding not drawn down this year will be carried into 2026 and will remain ringfenced from Fingal County Council's broader 2026 Second-Hand Acquisitions allocation.

Generally, adequate scope remains within the original €325 million allocated to the Programme in 2025 to support all acquisitions that can be completed by local authorities before year-end. Accordingly, local authorities, including Fingal County Council, that have indicated they can progress and complete additional acquisitions, and draw down the relevant funding this year, have been approved to do so.

Moreover, local authorities have also been authorised to enter into commitments to a value of up to 30% of their 2025 budget for acquisitions unlikely to close and draw down funding until 2026. This effectively provides a multi annual approach for the programme and allows local authorities to continue to pursue priority acquisitions over the closing months of 2025 with certainty on funding from my Department in 2026.

For Fingal County Council, this provides scope to commit €6 million to acquisitions that are likely to only complete and drawdown in 2026. This includes acquisitions to support exits from homelessness, tenancy sustainment via tenant in situ, and other priority cohorts such as older persons, persons with disabilities, etc.