2026-05-19

164. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an updated timeline for the delivery of the retrofit scheme to all social housing units in County Louth and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37523/26]

Can the Minister provide an updated timeline for the delivery of the retrofit scheme to all social housing units in County Louth? Louth County Council has been very good at delivering on retrofitting and has at times gone beyond its targets. I would like to think that it would be given the facility to get through the entire cohort of social housing units that require to be retrofitted.

I thank the Deputy for his very important question about retrofitting in County Louth. We have put substantial funding into retrofitting and we encourage local authorities to move as quickly as possible with retrofitting schemes. Where retrofitting works are carried out, it brings extraordinary comfort to families. It also helps to tackle fuel poverty, which is really important as part of our retrofitting schemes, the building of A-rated buildings and nearly zero energy buildings houses and now moving to zero-emission houses as well. We will continue to engage with Louth County Council to look at how we can accelerate the delivery of retrofitting to improve the quality of lives of people living in social homes in Louth.

Louth County Council has one of the longest lists for social housing. It must deal with the issue impacting on every local authority at this point , namely an insufficient amount of money to deal with maintenance needs. I constantly deal with those who work for the council and deal with maintenance. The reality is that from time to time you are robbing Peter to pay Paul and cannot always deliver to meet actual needs. People who have been tenants for many years and who may not have looked for anything from the local authority previously will come to you with issues, particularly in relation to windows and doors. In a perfect situation, if you can get them on the list for retrofitting, it means that at least you can ensure that they are in a house that is properly insulated and warm and that they will not be facing astronomical costs during the cost-of-living and cost-of-fuel crises with which we are dealing. It is about ensuring that we can deliver in respect of the need that is out there. I am of the view that the timeline is never going to be met.

I acknowledge the Deputy's concern for people who live in social housing. I visited County Louth recently. I acknowledge the fantastic progress of Louth County Council in terms of delivering social homes, but I also recognise that it has a very large social housing list and faces a particular challenge with regard to the high level of homelessness within the county and the wider region. I have met with the Simon regional homelessness group. I have also met the directors for housing in Counties Monaghan and Louth to see how we can start to target specific supports to County Louth. The two major towns in the county, Drogheda and Dundalk, are looking for city status, an issue that was raised with me on a number of occasions when I visited. I very much acknowledge the work that is being done by Louth County Council with support from all politicians.

The Minister will always be welcome when we are talking about the opening of social housing in County Louth. The problem is that we need to see a lot more of it, The issue relating to Fulacht Fia or any of the other schemes is the huge numbers of people on the waiting list and of people who believe they may have a chance of getting a house. Unfortunately, the hopes of many will be dashed. To return to the issue of retrofitting, Louth County Council has at times showed a capacity to be able to retrofit more houses than the targets it was given, particularly in the early stages of the programme. It was able to get moneys that were not initially being used by other councils. Even at some stages, they had produced more one year than the target and funding they were provided for again. It is about ensuring we get a timeline that is achievable within the near future, because we want to see the whole issue of retrofitting and the issue of the insufficient maintenance budget dealt with for those who are not in appropriate places. We just need to deliver for all of them.

I again thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of retrofitting of social homes in County Louth. We very much recognise the importance of it for people's quality of life. Louth County Council has an excellent record on all the targets in providing supports, whether it is retrofitting, building social homes or other supports. It is a council that other councils could look up to in terms of how it delivers and maintains properties. However, I acknowledge there are particular challenges Louth faces as a rapidly growing county with two rapidly growing towns as well. When you grow that quickly, you face challenges, so it is incumbent on the Department of housing to keep focus and to support local authorities. I will certainly keep the Deputy's comments under consideration.