Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022
55. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on the Croí Cónaithe funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22312/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI seek an update on the Croí Conaithe aspect of the Housing for All plan, particularly as it relates to towns and villages.
I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for his question and all Members for their interest in this issue. Deputy O'Sullivan has advocated for this very strongly and we all recognise the importance of the Government giving assistance to those who can bring vacant and empty homes in our towns and villages back into use. We are within weeks of launching that fund. It will be managed through our local authorities. The Ministers of State, Deputies Burke and Noonan, and I want to make sure the process is as simple as possible. It will be done by way of a grant scheme for home owners.
Right across our country we have a resource in the form of empty housing stock that can breathe life back into our towns and villages and we should use it. Working this fund right the way through has been quite complex but we are nearly there on it. We got Cabinet approval on the fund itself on Tuesday last and will now move the cities and towns fund forward. It is a significant investment on behalf of the Exchequer, to the tune of €500 million. This will run between now and 2026 and we want to make sure it works.
The local authorities have been very supportive of this and will administer the fund and the applications. I want the application process to be simple and clear for people. This is another avenue through which we can ensure that our young and not-so-young people who aspire to owning their own homes and living in their own areas will be able to do so. It also speaks, and rightly so, to the policy that the Ministers of State, Deputies Burke and Noonan, launched recently, the town centre first initiative and supporting that. Our aim is to support growth within our towns and villages and this is a really significant step forward by this Government. This is a strong commitment in Housing for All and in the programme for Government and the fund will be launched within a matter of weeks. I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for his support and for advocating for these changes on behalf of his own constituents.
The reason I brought this up is that in west Cork the two aspects of the Housing for All plan on which I get quizzed most regularly are the affordable housing element, including when we will see affordable housing schemes and the Croí Conaithe fund. I am regularly asked when Croí Conaithe funding and finance will be made available, particularly by single people who really see this as an opportunity to get on the property ladder or get a house for themselves, as well as by young couples. What we are struggling with at constituency level is directing people towards proper information. The sooner we can get detailed information, with FAQs on different aspects of the scheme, the better. We can then direct people who see this scheme as a potential solution to that information.
I assure Deputy O'Sullivan that we will make sure all of the relevant information is available. There will be public information campaign on the scheme. There is a lot of interest among Government and Opposition Deputies in this fund. We will make sure all Deputies receive the relevant information. Local authorities will be managing the scheme.
I am glad that Deputy O'Sullivan mentioned single people, a cohort of people who find the current housing situation acutely challenging. That is why we have made very significant changes to the local authority home loan scheme. We have increased the limits for single people. The Croí Conaithe fund will apply to single people. It will also, as is the case with all of the policies the Department has brought forward, be underpinned by the fresh start principle and will apply to people whose lives may have changed through divorce or separation and who do not have any interest in other properties. They are entitled to a fresh start too and that will happen through this policy and through the first home shared equity scheme too. It is really important that we recognise changes in our society, including changes to family types.
This fund will really help people and as I said, we are only a matter of weeks away from launching it. We will make sure all of the relevant information is available. I thank Deputy O'Sullivan and others for their support on this. This could be a game changer for regional Ireland in particular and for towns and villages right across the country.
As the Minister has said, one of the reasons this is such an exciting scheme is that it has the potential to breathe new life into towns and villages, particularly in the regions. It could increase footfall on our high streets. At the moment, there are some villages and towns experiencing 50% to 60% vacancy rates on their high streets.
Another important issue is the fact that a lot of over-the-shop premises can be quite difficult to work with. I have seen many that are in quite a state of disrepair and access can be a real issue. There are also complications around fire certificates and other certification requirements. I ask the Minister to provide detail on the situation regarding premises that can be difficult to work with in terms of access and certification. Is there a plan in place to ensure that dealing with those issues is as smooth as possible?
Croí Conaithe will very much focus on empty buildings and vacant homes that exist right now and such premises will be in different states of disrepair.
The other very serious issue, which will very much help Croí Cónaithe, is above-shop living. That has not been cracked yet in respect of the regulations. We have a group working on that, particularly on fire regulations and so on. It will conclude its work on that very shortly. We will not wait for that to be done to get Croí Cónaithe launched. There are vacant homes on the main street in Clonakilty, in Deputy O'Sullivan's constituency, and in Banagher, County Offaly. They are homes that were residences before. I see the fund working first for them, and then I want to get the above-shop units back in place because the cost of bringing a lot of them back into use is prohibitive for people. Croí Cónaithe will be launched very shortly. The work on access, egress and fire certification is being undertaken by an expert group in the Department, including stakeholders within the sector. That work will conclude this year. We will not wait to launch Croí Cónaithe. We want to launch it soon because there are homes out there that we can get working on pretty much straight away. The resource of above-shop units is one not just within our towns and villages; we see above-commercial-premises units within our cities as well. We have made changes in planning and I have extended the regulations for conversion of commercial buildings, including now conversion of former public houses to residential units without the need for planning permission. That has been done really successfully, particularly in two counties I mentioned, Waterford and Limerick, which have really led the way on this. We are encouraging all counties to do the same.
