Housing Schemes
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-07
============================================================

Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

Senator Murphy made some very interesting points that require us as a Government to listen. I reassure him that we are committed to addressing the issue of vacancy. I thank him and Senator Duffy for their advocacy and work in this regard. We know the success of the vacant property grant - we have seen it throughout the country. We should always look at how we can improve the effectiveness and delivery of the scheme. I will bring Deputy Murphy's points back. It is worth saying that it is not proposed to introduce a system of completion certificates because the Government feels it is not necessary at the moment. I will take the points Senator Murphy has made back to the Department.
The grant is making a real difference, as we both agree, in urban and rural areas. We will continue to support bringing many properties back into use as homes. I am happy to talk to the Senator further on this matter, because there is merit in what he said. I thank him for raising it.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07