Figures released to Greens show just 47 vacant homes purchased under €150m State fund

Figures released to Green Party Leader Roderic O'Gorman TD show just 47 vacant homes were purchased under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF). 

€7.5m has been spent from an allocation of €150m across the State, with local authorities only drawing down a fraction of the available funding.

“Derelict and vacant homes are the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to providing more housing, with more than 80,000 vacant units across Ireland. I’m really concerned to see such a low level of spend across all local authorities, and so few houses purchased. The Minister needs to urgently review this scheme, figure out why it isn’t delivering more quickly, and reform it,” said Deputy O'Gorman.

Green Party Councillor for Louth Marianne Butler said "for people surrounded by dereliction and vacant properties this seems like another fake fund giving false hope rather than real action”.

The Government needs to take urgent action to ensure that funding allocated to local authorities is drawn down to bring vacant and derelict homes back into use.