I wish to bring my experience as a county councillor to the topic of vacant homes. I was until recently a member of Wicklow County Council. A number of years ago as the housing challenges became more acute, I proposed that every month councillors receive a total number of vacant houses, broken down by district. This could be discussed every month at our full council meeting. This happened. I also asked that the list be aged by how long the houses were vacant. The proposal was adopted by the council. My logic for introducing it was that if you want to manage something, you must first measure it. I ask that Members, rather than constantly focusing on being critical, come up with practical solutions. I call on all councils to implement what we did in Wicklow a number of years ago. Of course the lead time for reletting of vacant property should be shorter but remember that all relets are brought up to a high standard and many of the houses have not been refurbished in decades. I see some false information being put into the public domain by politicians, in particular statements that funds given for refurbishment are of the order of €800 per house. That is actually the maintenance cost.

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The average cost across the country is €28,000, as per the most recent NOAC report. There is a national spend of over €100 million. The Government provides €11,000 per house and not €800. The waiting times can clearly be improved. Some counties take an average of 60 weeks for a refurbishment while one takes only 13 weeks. However, there are a variety of reasons for delays, including delays with contractors, the time taken for full retrofits and tenant refusals of properties. I reiterate that we need to monitor vacancies on a monthly basis at county level and use the reports we have used in Wicklow.

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