Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context

558. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether any funding that is made available for retrofitting local authority housing is intended for tenanted social homes; and if not, if it is exclusively for vacant social homes (details supplied). [62918/25]

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

The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities are also legally obliged to ensure all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 2019.

Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities in this regard, my department provides funding under the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP). Works eligible under the EERP include attic/cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation where required, windows and doors replacement, heat pump installation and ancillary and associated works. The selection of homes for inclusion in the programme is a matter for each individual local authority. That said, given the number of households in urgent need of a social home, and to ensure as quick a turnaround as possible of vacant stock, local authority retrofit programmes should focus first and foremost on tenanted properties.