2026-05-21

The housing crisis continues to affect every town and village across Ireland. It remains one of the biggest challenges facing families, young people, older people and workers. As a TD, I hear every week from people struggling to find a home, buy a home or to cope with raising rents. The message is clear - more houses and more needs to be done. There is no single solution to the housing crisis and no silver bullet. We need a mix of actions. We must increase supply, support first-time buyers, improve infrastructure, speed up planning and make better use of homes we already have. One of the most urgent issues is the number of vacant and derelict properties. CSO figures - not my figures - show there are almost 70,000 vacant homes nationwide. This is a shocking figure at a time when homelessness is rising and families are in desperate need of housing. In Laois alone, there are almost 963 vacant properties. These homes are sitting empty in our towns and villages while people are struggling to find somewhere to live. Many are tied up in probate or legal issues and others need major renovation that owners just cannot afford. At the same time, more than 17,000 people are living in emergency accommodation, including 5,000 children. If even a portion of these vacant homes were brought back into use, it would make a real difference. It would provide homes for families, ease pressure on emergency accommodation and help bring back life to the towns and villages not alone throughout my county of Laois, which I represent but every county in Ireland. This is a problem that can be seen in all towns and villages. I welcome the grants for vacant properties and over-shop conversions. I also want to be very positive about the steps already helping to bring them back into use. I thank the Ministers and the Government agencies working on this. We must accept that land will not always be available for the development of houses. This is why we must focus more on the homes we already have which are lying idle. We need stronger supports for that and less bureaucracy, faster planning and probate processes and more incentives to bring vacant properties back into use. At a time when so many people are looking for a home, we cannot allow thousands of properties to sit empty and fall further into decline. Vacancy and dereliction must be a central part of the national response to the housing crisis. I would like to take this opportunity to advise everybody to reflect on their nearest town or village, take a walk through it and see how many vacant properties there are. Putting aside probate and all the difficulties as regards ownership, there must be something that can be done with a short timeline of 12 or 24 months to see work carried out on them. I do not mean taking them from people but what was done all my life on the council - a valuer values the property at its value on the day. That money is put aside and when the owner comes forward, they are paid the money.

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update the Chamber on what is being done to address vacancy and dereliction. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Deputy rightly said we want less bureaucracy and more assistance. Working to end dereliction and vacancy is a key priority of the Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The plan will ensure the activities and resources used to address vacancy and dereliction are co-ordinated and that legislative powers are used to make a serious impact on the level of dereliction and vacancy while also being a catalyst to revitalising communities. It is a blight on our cities, towns and villages and especially galling when we are under so much pressure to deliver housing for our people. A range of measures have been introduced, as the Deputy outlined, by the Government to address vacancy and dereliction. These include the vacant property refurbishment grant and the newly launched vacant above the shop grant and expert advice grant. These grants, coupled with the repair and leasing scheme, planning exemptions for the conversion of vacant commercial properties and the compulsory purchase order, CPO, activation programme, are all working to get as many vacant properties back into use as possible. A number of national structures have been established, including the dedicated vacant homes unit in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, a property optimisation unit in the Housing Agency and full-time vacant homes officers in each local authority. In addition, the Government's town centre first policy, introduced in 2022, provides a whole-of-government framework to address the decline in the health of towns and support measures to revitalise them. To drive the delivery of town centre first, dedicated town regeneration officers are now established within local authorities, working with vacant homes officers and other local authority staff, to tackle dereliction and develop regeneration initiatives. The vacant property refurbishment grant, introduced in July 2022, is making a huge difference across the country. The grant provides up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up grant of up to €20,000 is available where the property is confirmed to be derelict, bringing the total grant available for a derelict property up to a maximum of €70,000. At the end of quarter 1 of 2026, 17,400 applications had been received for the grant, more than 13,000 approved and over 5,300 grants paid to date as refurbishment works have been completed, with a value of over €284 million. Another important programme changing how local authorities tackle this issue is the CPO activation programme. The programme requires local authorities to take a proactive and systematic approach to tackling vacancy and dereliction, identifying properties and engaging with their owners. Local authorities are encouraged to use their compulsory purchase powers if engagement is not successful, with funding available for them to do so. Support and guidance are provided to all local authorities in implementing the programme by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Housing Agency. These measures are proving effective in reducing vacancy levels and there is real momentum developing right across the country in bringing empty properties back into use as homes. The Deputy also talked about buildings being in probate. This is another issue we need to tackle but, again, a lot is being done by the local authorities, the Department of housing and all the agencies. I wish it had been done 15 or 20 years ago but a lot is happening. I thank Deputy Aird for his comments.

As I said, I welcome the introduction of the new grant supports aimed at turning vacant buildings and above-the-shop spaces into liveable spaces. I also welcome the €70,000 grant. However, if the Minister of State goes to any town and village in his local area, he will see, given the cost of building and everything else, that despite the €70,000 grant to do up a house, where the individual owns it, it is still very difficult to do. I could cost anything from €270,000 to €300,000 to do up any of these buildings. We talked about acquisition payments. On the CPO, I thank everybody in Laois County Council who is involved in this. It is a tremendous concept and the council has done an awful lot of work but we need money from the Department. We can have headings and the Ministers, in fairness to them, can do their level best to bring out schemes but the bottom line is this is taking far too long, from the announcement of the scheme to the time a local authority can take it up, get the money and get blocks and boots on the ground. That is not the Minister of State's problem; it is problem in the Department of housing. In regard to the acquisition payments, I guarantee the Minister of State that when a house is subject to a compulsory purchase order, it has to be perfect for living in because you get no money to do up the house. That is a fact and the Minister of State needs to know that. People accuse local authorities of not acting fast enough but if the house is not in turnkey condition, they get no money from the Department to do it up. On the buy and renew scheme, where a council can CPO houses, while I agree with it 100%, I will give the Minister of State an example. In the case of the County Hotel in Portlaoise, this has been going on for over 12 years and we still do not have confirmation to do it. That is what is really killing people in my area. Why is it taking so long? It is a no-brainer to do up houses. I remember the main street in Portlaoise. I can remember the main streets in Mountrath, Mountmellick, Portarlington, Abbeyleix and all these places. If we are serious about bringing people back into the heart of a town-----

Thank you, Deputy. The Minister of State has two minutes to respond.

The Minister of State only said it himself a minute ago. We knew everybody who was there-----

You are way over time, Deputy. I am sorry. The Minister of State has two minutes.

I again thank Deputy Aird for the passion he has shown on this very important issue.

There is no need for the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach to shout and roar at me.

The Deputy rightly raised the issues and the range of measures being taken by the Government to address vacancy and dereliction, which are a huge success. Vacancy levels are declining. An historical level of funding has been made available and this significant investment, through schemes such as the urban regeneration development fund and the vacant property refurbishment grant, is having a serious impact, bringing vacant and derelict properties back to use and revitalising towns and villages across the country. The Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, reinforces and expands the range of existing measures being implemented by Government to tackle the issue of vacancy and dereliction. The Deputy is absolutely right. I grew up over a shop, a newsagent on a corner in Boyle, County Roscommon. Three of us lived over the shop. There was no back door and there were 100 people on the street and 100 people on the other street. It was the same in every town and village in the country. It is galling to see that a lot of properties have fallen into disrepair. From a planning point of view, people did not want to live over a shop. The new €95,000 grant for over-the-shop living is going to be a major benefit and will help bring those town and village centres into play. People will also get €5,000 for architect's fees. The measure has only started but I think it will make a big difference. I would love to see the towns and villages coming back into play, as has happened around Europe. Much of this housing is of a good quality and we need to do an awful lot more. I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that is close to my heart as well. A lot is being done and these new grants will certainly help bring over-the-shop houses back into play. The other grants for refurbishing older buildings have certainly helped. As I said, there have been 17,400 grants paid in the past six or seven years. We are in a better place but we need to do a lot more.