Vacant Properties
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this matter and for the opportunity to update the Dáil on the modification and expansion of the buy and renew scheme. I am taking this question on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The Department has a number of schemes in place targeted at increasing the supply of social housing and working towards ending dereliction. That is a key priority of the Government’s housing policy, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. We are all aware of the existing schemes in croí cónaithe around the vacant refurbishment grant. The Department is finalising specific details on the updated buy and renew scheme, and it is expected a circular will be issued to local authorities in the coming weeks. In the interim, I welcome the opportunity to update the House.
It is timely to bring this to the fore because the buy and renew is an important scheme but in its implementation we want to change it in two key ways. First, the buy and renew scheme, which is currently led by local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, is being expanded to include a contractor-led approach. That will have multiple benefits. The aim is to bring forward an additional option for local authorities and approved housing bodies to tackle long-term vacancy and dereliction. It will also provide a potential workstream for local contractors and a stepping stone for tradespeople to move into contracting, bring extra resources to bear in tackling vacancy and dereliction, and give certainty to contractors prepared to bring vacant and derelict properties back into productive use. It will also ultimately increase the supply of social homes. As a further provision, the modified scheme mandates that properties must be both vacant and derelict to be considered for the scheme. This modification will ensure that local authorities and approved housing bodies tackle the most challenging properties first, which may not be easily addressed by any other means.
The expanded buy and renew scheme has enormous potential to unlock development that might not otherwise progress in the absence of an assured purchase agreement approach by local authorities or approved housing bodies. This will involve the local authority or approved housing body entering into a fixed-price purchase agreement with the contractor, providing certainty of an end purchaser for the contractor and the provision of new social homes for the local authority or approved housing body once works are completed in accordance with the terms of the purchase agreement. Of course, properties developed under the buy and renew scheme must be in compliance with all other statutory requirements and with the housing regulations around standards for rental properties.
This is an important update. It is important that we maximise the benefits of all schemes to bring more properties back on stream. With local authorities identifying these properties and engaging with contractors through the buy and renew scheme, there is huge potential for greater momentum in repurposing and refurbishing existing stock. That has environmental and sustainable advantages compared with building new properties.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26