Vol. 554 No. 5
1513 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of vacant local authority houses in County Mayo; the length of time these houses have been vacant; and the reason they have not been reallocated. [16293/02]
The management and maintenance of their rented dwellings, including the control of vacant dwellings, is the responsibility of the housing authority concerned. The most recent figures available to my Department from the Mayo local authorities indicate that at end of December 2001 there were 81 local authority dwellings vacant in Mayo: 23 for less than three months, 12 for between three and six months, 37 for more than six months, and nine due to detenanting for planned refurbishment purposes.
Apart from the nine detenanting houses, my Department does not have details of the reasons for the dwellings being vacant. However, I would encourage local authorities to ensure that once a dwelling becomes vacant it is relet as quickly as possible to a household on the waiting list.
