Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 November 2025
79. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps he is taking to address the issue of void houses; if central funding to local councils will be increased to repurpose these houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65488/25]
View answerThe 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 statutorily required to ensure all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 2019.
Some €31 million will be provided to local authorities in 2025 to support the refurbishment and re-letting of a minimum 1,900 homes this year. This funding will increase to €40m in 2026 to continue support for the prompt turnaround of casual vacancies in local authority social homes and support the ongoing transition to planned maintenance.
My Department is working, in line with Programme for Government commitments, to introduce a new voids programme in 2026. I am focussed on building on the strong progress made over recent years to tackle local authority vacancy levels. This progress has been enabled by significant funding from my Department over the last decade, with over €360m recouped to local authorities under the voids programme since 2014 and supporting the refurbishment and re-let of 25,672 dwellings.
Given the significant scale of investment over the decade, all legacy long-term vacancy issues should have been dealt with local authorities at this stage. Accordingly, local authorities should be in a strong position regarding long-term vacancy and, with the ongoing support of my Department, be able to further transition to a strategic and planned stock management and maintenance approach.
