104 Council Houses in Cork County Reactivated from Vacancy in 2024

An injection of over €1.14m in funding has helped bring 104 council houses back into use in Cork County during 2024 which was part of the Governments Voids Programme, Fine Gael’s Cork North West TD John Paul O’Shea has said.

Deputy O’ Shea said that the Government is making more efficient use of our existing housing stock, which will bring more homes back into active use in Cork. “The Voids Programme supports local authorities in making vacant homes ready for re-letting and works to tackle vacancy and dereliction to ensure vacant properties are re-used for housing as quickly as possible. Bringing vacant council housing back into use across our towns and villages is essential to help ease pressure on housing waiting lists. It will boost supply and deliver much-needed social homes”.

Cork City Council brought back a further 161 council houses into use during 2024 with an investment of over €1.73m. Overall, 2,357 vacant council homes nationally were brought back into active use in 2024 under the Voids Programme with over €25m spent on this valuable programme.

Deputy O’Shea added “No one wants to see empty council houses in their towns or villages that could be used as homes, so it’s fantastic to see so many being brought back into use for social housing in Cork. Since 2014 there has been almost 3,200 council houses brought back into use in Cork City & County, showing the success of the programme since its introduction. I would like to thank Cork County Council & Cork City Council for their hard work in returning these homes to use, which I know will make a real difference to the lives of these households in Cork.

“Fine Gael is committed to increasing the housing supply and revitalising our communities by bringing vacant homes back into use. I encourage Local Authorities to keep being proactive in returning vacant properties for use in the Voids Programme”. concluded Deputy O’Shea.