The following motion was moved by Deputy Thomas Gould on Tuesday, 10 June 2025:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— there are at least 2,656 vacant council homes, excluding Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) homes, across the State, including 776 homes vacant longer than 12 months;
— the National Oversight and Audit Commission Performance Indicator Report 2023, found that the average reletting time was above 33 weeks and cost, on average, €28,347.05;
— this reletting cost represents a 49 per cent increase on costs when compared to 2019;
— central Government have only provided €11,000 per home in 2025, and have only funded the return of 1,900 homes this year;
— the periodic opening of the Voids Programme, and the restriction on local authorities claiming reimbursement, leaves public homes vacant for months even when only minor works are needed;
— over 250,000 maintenance requests were made for local authority owned homes in 2024;
— local authorities have only budgeted on average €347.45 per unit for planned or proactive maintenance; and
— central Government has only provided €67.23 per unit for stock surveys and planned maintenance in 2025, resulting in only €10.1 million this year;
further notes that:
— these empty homes are an insult to those impacted by the housing crisis, and have a negative impact on the surrounding community;
— the housing maintenance direct labour workforce in local authorities was slashed during austerity, and has never returned to its necessary strength; and
— failure to properly fund the maintenance of homes leaves people living in unsuitable and unsafe conditions, while also increasing the repairs needed to relet homes; and
agrees that the Government must:
— create a dedicated Department of Housing, with an annual multi-million euro maintenance fund starting in Budget 2026, to allow local authorities recoup the costs of improving and upgrading existing stock, including vacant council homes;
— remove the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage cap on the amount of money that can be recouped by local authorities when bringing vacant council homes back into use;
— ensure that a standard average turnaround time of 12 weeks is met by all local authorities for bringing vacant council homes back into use, including refurbishment works, allocation and tenanting;
— ensure the maximum use of council employed direct labour, for the refurbishment of vacant council homes being relet and that public procurement rules are applied with flexibility to ensure no delays in cases where private contractors are being used for refurbishment works;
— give local authorities the maximum level of delegated sanctions, to proceed with refurbishment works to bring vacant homes back into use without the need for Department approval, and to allow this process to happen year-round;
— address the delays in securing Garda clearance through better coordination between the Gardaí, councils, AHBs and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage;
— address the delays in local authorities providing nominations to AHB social housing schemes through agreement of a protocol between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the City and County Management Association and the Irish Council for Social Housing; and
— the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, must publish a real time report every six months, listing the number of vacant homes in each local authority area and the average length of time these properties are vacant, to track progress in addressing council home vacancy.
The following amendment No. 1 was moved by the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell:
To delete all words after "Dail Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— the Government aims to minimise the level of vacancy in every local authority area, and this is reflected in a decade of Exchequer investment in addressing long term vacancy, while acknowledging that there will always be a level of vacancy in the system, as tenancies end for various reasons and homes are prepared for reletting;
— significant progress has been made over the past 10 years to address long term vacant local authority homes, which has been supported by Government funding of over €360 million;
— funding was ramped up considerably in 2020 to particularly tackle legacy voids and begin the transition to planned maintenance;
— the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) has found that across the local Government sector, the level of vacant local authority homes is only 2.8 per cent, the lowest rate in many years, reflecting the success of Government's approach;
— there is no cap on the amount that can be spent per home, provided the maximum average of €11,000 is maintained across the works programme;
— in addition, local authorities can complete the suite of works under the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) in parallel, up to a maximum of €48,850 per unit, increasing the overall funding available per unit as compared to the pre-2020 position;
— local authority homes are in general wholly owned by local authorities, which are encouraged to ring-fence some of their own resources from housing rents and other sources to the maintenance and protection of these homes;
— the Voids Programme operates on the same basis as all other Exchequer funded programmes;
— the transition to a programme of planned maintenance began in 2022, and aims to provide a sustainable model of management and maintenance to proactively address the level of maintenance requests annually;
— the commencement of stock condition surveys funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which are supported by the very recent roll out of a dedicated Information and Communications Technology system which will capture stock condition data and provide for informed work programmes and strategic asset management across all 31 local authorities;
— the funding available in 2025 for planned maintenance is a 100 per cent increase on 2024, and it is expected to increase further over the coming years as the shift to planned maintenance continues; and
— local authorities determine their priority works programme based on the condition of their units and the available funding, and that stock surveys are key part of this decision-making at local level;
further notes that:
— addressing vacancy across the housing sector, both public and private, has been and remains a key priority of Government;
— providing good quality homes that meet the relevant standards in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 is another key priority, which the transition to planned maintenance seeks to support;
— the EERP for local authority homes aims to increase the energy efficiency of those homes, increasing comfort levels and reducing energy costs for tenants;
— staff issues, including the nature of employment in local authorities and requirements for Garda clearance where relevant are the operational responsibility of local authority chief executives;
— maximum flexibility in terms of delegated sanction is already in place, within the framework of the Public Spending Code;
— the allocation of social homes is a local authority function under section 10 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011 and requires several factors to be considered; and
— NOAC publishes a report on vacancy matters, including turnaround times, annually; and
highlights that:
— over 13,100 vacant local authority homes have been returned to active use since 2020, aided by Exchequer funding of over €189 million;
— since 2021, 9,092 homes were retrofitted under the new EERP;
— funding for the EERP has increased from €17.9 million in 2021 to almost €90 million in 2024, demonstrating the importance the Government places on this programme;
— over 2,350 stock surveys have been recorded on the new asset management system;
— dedicated teams are in place in both the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Local Government Management Agency to support this work; and
— the Programme for Government commits to a new Voids Programme, with an emphasis on shorter turnaround times, and that the transition to rolling planned maintenance will support this.".
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1:
To insert the following after "rolling planned maintenance will support this":
"commits to:
— reducing the turnaround time for vacated local authority homes to new tenants from the current average of eight months, to a two month average turnaround time; and
— ensuring that local authorities be permitted to apply to the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant for the purpose of refurbishment of vacant council houses.".
- (Deputy Paul Lawless)
I must now deal with a postponed division relating to amendment No. 1 to Government amendment No. 1. On Tuesday, 10 June 2025, on the question, "That the amendment to the amendment be made”, a division was claimed. That division will be taken now.
Amendment to amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 69; Níl, 87; Staon, 1.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Peadar Tóibín and Paul Lawless; Níl, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie.
Amendment to amendment declared lost.
Amendment to amendment declared lost.
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 87; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Whitmore, Jennifer.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 87; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Whitmore, Jennifer.
Question declared carried.