I thank Deputy O'Rourke for his question. Both the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I, and the Government as a whole, are fully committed to ensuring the delivery of housing at scale. Part of that is the continued acceleration of delivery of affordable housing. Over 14,500 affordable housing solutions have been delivered by our range of delivery partners since the launch of Housing for All, including 850 in County Meath. Meath County Council has received funding approval for nine schemes to deliver 131 affordable purchase homes with the support of the affordable housing fund, of which 83 have been delivered. Furthermore, six approved housing body projects have been approved to date under the cost-rental equity loan scheme. Sixty-four cost-rental homes have been delivered and a further 168 are to be delivered by the end of 2026. Under the first home scheme, which provides equity support of up to 30%, or 20% if being combined with the help-to-buy scheme, up to the end of September, 618 approvals have been issued in County Meath, 599 of them to first-time buyers, six to tenant purchase and eight to self-build. Of those, 413 have been drawn down, comprising 406 first-time buyers, five tenant purchases and two self-builds. A considerable amount of affordable housing support has been provided. As the Deputy knows, there is a commitment under the programme for Government to introduce a starter homes programme bringing all elements under the one roof. The vacant property refurbishment grant is also providing affordability supports to first-time buyers in County Meath and across the country.
Sentiment score: 0.36
I did not quite catch exactly the description of the country the Deputy just gave but, as he knows, there are as many people returning to this country as people leaving it. In terms of affordability supports, he should tell the 618 individuals and couples in his county of Meath who have been approved under the first home scheme that the support that the Government is providing is not of help to them in getting their foot on the ladder. The Deputy's party opposes the first home scheme. Those 618 individuals and couples in County Meath would not be in homes today if it were not for the first home scheme. The Deputy should tell that to the 6,200 who have received support under the help to buy scheme, again a significant scheme in order to help bridge the gap in terms of the deposit to purchase their first homes, again provided by the Government to support people in giving them their taxes back to be able to get their foot on the property ladder, supports and schemes that the Government is providing and that the Deputy's party opposes.
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The Deputy said the scheme was saddling people with additional debt. Some 6,200 persons in his county of Meath have availed of the help to buy scheme.
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That is getting their taxes back that they have paid over the previous four years to support them in getting their deposits together to purchase their first homes. That does not have to be paid back. The Deputy's party is opposed to that. It is not putting additional debt on any family or individual. The first home scheme is bridging the gap to home ownership, with 618 applications in the Deputy's county of Meath, and I can guarantee-----
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I did not interrupt the Deputy. If he is not going to allow me speak-----
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These are schemes that are providing supports to individuals and families to bridge the gap to home ownership.
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The same tactics.
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I thank the Deputy. A commitment was included under Housing for All to develop a roadmap to implement minimum building energy rating, BER, standards where feasible for the private rental sector. This work supports the objectives set down in the Government's climate action plan. My Department is committed to improving energy efficiency in the rental market and our work in this area is being informed by researched commissioned from the ESRI. The ESRI research paper, published earlier this year, explores the investment requirements for energy efficiency upgrades in the private rental sector. The ESRI research is a valuable contribution to our understanding of future investment requirements to ensure the appropriate energy efficiency upgrades in the private rental sector, and it will help in the development of policy and actions in this area. As part of Ireland's residential retrofit programme, the Government launched a new package of supports targeting homes that were built and occupied pre-2011. These supports have been made available to non-corporate landlords and approved housing bodies to improve the efficiency of their rental properties. A home energy upgrade loan scheme, launched in 2024, enables homeowners, including non-corporate landlords, to borrow between €5,000 and €75,000 at significantly lower interest rates to complete a home energy upgrade. A tax incentive is now in place to encourage small-scale landlords to undertake retrofitting works while the tenant remains in situ. Budget 2026 included the announcement that the income tax deduction for small landlords who retrofit their properties will be extended for a further three years. The appropriate balance has to be struck between improving the energy efficiency of our rental stock any potential impact that any intervention may have on the private rental market, particularly around availability of accommodation. This is an area that is being kept under active review.
Sentiment score: 0.56
I cannot give the Deputy a date for that. The matter is being kept under active review. We have obviously enhanced the measures to try to improve the BERs relating to our rental stock. The Deputy is right to say that the ESRI has completed valuable work on this matter. It has stated that four in five rented dwellings currently have BERs below B and the estimated cost of upgrading the housing stock in the rental market is between €7 billion and €8 billion in 2023 prices. It is a significant cost. In making any policy decisions in this area, we have to strike a balance between ensuring that we have an adequate number of rental properties and trying to improve the energy rating of those properties.
Sentiment score: 0.33
As the Deputy will know, a significant scheme, namely the home energy upgrade loan scheme, is in place. It was launched last year and is used to provide loans of between €5,000 and €75,000 at levels significantly below prevailing interest rates in order to try to address the scale of the challenge that has been identified in the ESRI report. As stated, four in five rental properties are below a B rating. We are keeping this under review. I do not have a date for the Deputy for this. I stress again that we have to strike a balance between ensuring that we have an adequate supply of rental properties in the market and trying to increase the energy efficiency of those rental properties to ensure that renters have an adequate and warm home to live in.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 15, 21, 83, 105 and 112 together. As I said in my previous reply, this Government is committed to tackling the issue of vacancy and dereliction. The vacant homes action plan published in January 2023 sets out a range of measures and actions being pursued to return vacant and derelict properties to use as homes. In March, the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I published the 2025 progress report, which shows the significant progress that is being made. It is available on my Department's website. One of the key measures in the action plan is supporting the refurbishment of older, vacant and derelict properties using the vacant property refurbishment grant. This is a grant that can provide up to €50,000 towards the refurbishment of vacant properties for use as homes and up to €70,000 where that property is derelict. To the end of June, more than 13,700 grant applications have been received across the country. Almost 10,000 have been approved and more than 2,800 grants have been paid, amounting to over €155 million. My Department publishes data on the grant on its website on a quarterly basis, providing a breakdown by local authority area. I will arrange to have the link to this published data circulated. A comprehensive review of the vacant property refurbishment grant was undertaken in 2024. That review considered all aspects of the scheme. The findings of this review have been considered in the context of the development of the new housing plan, which will be published shortly. The grant has been and continues to be successful in bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use and in making the refurbishment of these properties an affordable option for buyers across the country. It acts as a significant support for younger persons who are starting out on the property ladder. A wide range of other schemes are in place that also support the refurbishment and conversion of older buildings for housing. The repair and lease scheme provides an interest-free loan of up to €80,000 per home delivered to support the refurbishment and conversion of vacant buildings for use as social housing. This is a scheme that is increasingly used to renovate vacant commercial premises, including above the shop. There has been a huge positive impact from this scheme in my constituency of Waterford. About 55% of the national total of repair and lease units in the country have been delivered in Waterford, with one- and two-bedroom properties in town and city areas providing much-needed homes for families. I want to see more local authorities availing of that scheme. Planning exemptions are available for the conversion of certain vacant commercial properties into residential use, which are proving successful. In 2024 alone, more than 290 exemption notifications for more than 700 homes were provided, the highest yearly total since their introduction. This was extended to include former vacant pubs a couple of years ago. It is the intention to extend those exemptions further through the exempted development. As Deputy O'Connell, in budget 2026, the living city initiative, which is a tax relief, can be claimed and extended to other counties, as well as improving the level of support that is being provided through the scheme. We also made provision for a derelict property tax in the budget. As stated earlier, we have such a broad range of schemes providing the carrot to bring those vacant and derelict properties back into productive use for housing purposes, and if people are not going to use those carrots, the stick of the derelict property tax is coming. I encourage people to work with local authorities to use those schemes and bring those properties back into productive use, because what frustrates people most is seeing vacant and derelict properties across this country during a time of such need.
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It is the intention that local authorities will still have a significant role to play in the context of the new derelict sites tax by creating the register that Revenue will implement. There has been an issue in collecting the existing levy. That is why we are moving to introduce it as a tax that will be collected by Revenue. We encourage people to use the supports there and if they do not use them, the stick of the derelict property tax is coming.
Sentiment score: 0.34