Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022
79. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will investigate the empty seamark buildings on Merrion Road and see if they could play a role in providing emergency accommodation or could be retrofitted for social and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22197/22]
View answerThe Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) is responsible for meeting the immediate and short-term accommodation needs of persons arriving in Ireland from the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, my Department is focusing on the medium and long-term accommodation challenges and is leading cross-government efforts through a Housing Taskforce established by Government for this purpose. All accommodation and housing options are being examined by the taskforce, including the potential to refurbish and reconfigure vacant buildings.
As part of this work, my Department requested central and local government to identify and inventory public or private owned vacant buildings that may be used or configured for multi-occupancy accommodation in the medium to long-term term. Data continue to be returned on foot of these requests. My Department continues to work through these and, with a primary focus on public owned or controlled buildings and land, incorporate them into its considerations of the development of medium and longer-term accommodation and housing solutions.
If recourse to privately owned buildings is needed following this process, the Housing Taskforce will engage with the market as appropriate.
More generally, the delivery of domestic social and affordable housing requires a more holistic approach. To this end, the Government has developed a multi-faceted approach to address vacancy and make better use of our housing stock in Housing for All: Pathway 4: 'Addressing Vacancy and Efficient Use of Existing Stock’. This includes measures such as the Croí Conaithe (Towns) Fund and a programme of Compulsory Purchase Orders to bring vacant units to the market for sale.
That said, where suitable accommodation is developed as part of the humanitarian response, it may be turned to social and affordable housing when the Ukrainian crisis is resolved.
