Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 July 2021
196. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacant and derelict housing units across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38761/21]
View answerMy Department does not hold data on the amount of vacant and derelict housing units in the State. Each of the 31 local authorities have prepared a Vacant Homes Action Plan for their administrative area. The Vacant Home Action Plan identifies the scale of vacant homes in their jurisdiction and sets ambitious but realistic targets for the number of vacant homes that can ultimately be brought back into use. The Vacant Homes Office in each local authority is the central point of contact for owners of vacant properties at a local level.
To further assist in recording levels of vacancy, the vacanthomes.ie website has been developed by Mayo County Council on behalf of the local government sector. This provides a central portal for individuals to anonymously log possible vacant properties and alert local authorities who can then follow up with the owners to see whether the house can be re-used quickly. The total of properties logged on the website nationally currently stands at 5,875.
Data in relation to the number of vacant local authority units is not collated by my Department, however, statistics in relation to the social housing stock are published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) in their Annual Reports on Performance Indicators in Local Authorities. These reports provide a range of information in relation to social housing stock, including the level of vacancy broken down by local authority. The most recent report, relating to 2019, is available on the NOAC website at the following link: noac.ie/noac_publications/noac-performance-indicators-report-2019/
