Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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50. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of houses which have been refurbished through the vacant property refurbishment grant to date. [36744/24]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is a key support, introduced by this Government, to bringing vacant and derelict properties back into use as homes.

A grant of up to €50,000 is available for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up grant of up to €20,000 is available where the property is derelict or where the property is already on the local authority’s Derelict Sites Register, bringing the total grant available for a derelict property up to €70,000.

The grant is available in respect of vacant and derelict properties built prior to 2008, in towns, villages, cities and rural areas.

Take-up of the Grant has been significant since it was launched, with over 9,600 grant applications received to date and over 6,400 approved. Payment of grants by local authorities commenced at the end of 2023 as refurbishment works started to be completed and this has steadily increased, with 737 grants now paid. I expect this to significantly increase over 2024 as more refurbishment works are completed.

My Department publishes data on applications for the Grant on its website on a quarterly basis, which includes breakdowns by local authority. I will arrange for the relevant web link to be circulated with the official record.