Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan has allocated €15m to bring back into use 1,008 vacant local authority units. This is part of a year-long campaign driven by Minister O’Sullivan that will see €30m invested and nearly 2,000 vacant houses returned to beneficial use.
€400,000 has been allocated to County Clare, which will be used for 20 “voids” approved for return to use. This works out at an average of €20,000 per unit. Work will be carried out in the coming months on homes in Ennis, Killaloe, Shannon, Clarecastle, Ruan, Moyasta, Kilrush, Cross and Whitegate.
“I am determined to use every lever available to me to increase the number of social homes. One of the biggest scandals of recent years has been the high number of vacant, boarded up local authority homes. Today’s allocations will refurbish 1,008 of these units and transform them into family homes. It brings to €30m the amount invested in this important programme this year. This investment will see nearly 2,000 local authority homes coming on stream over the coming months,” said Minister O’Sullivan.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.