Cork County Council seeking more tenant scheme funds

Cork County Council is seeking more funding from the Government to progress tenant-in-situ acquisitions, according to a Cork minister of state.

The issue was raised in the Dáil last week by Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, who asked minister for state at the Department of Housing and TD for Cork South West, Christopher O’Sullivan, if the Government would commit funding.

Mr Gould explained how the money allocated to Cork City Council was insufficient to cover costs carried over from 2024, which the Department of Housing was aware of.

Mr O’Sullivan said that they are working on the issue, telling him: “I hope that every effort is made to resolve this. I think there are things that could be done.

“We are seeing situations where the new criteria that we have set out are being applied to houses for which discussions about buying them under the tenant-in-situ scheme had been entered into in 2024.

“I appreciate the equation the deputy set out, that the allocation falls short of living up to the agreements or to tenant-in-situ acquisitions that were set in train in 2024. There is an issue. I understand that the department is working closely with Cork City Council.”

He added: “Cork County Council is in a similar situation. It has been allocated around €15m for 2025.

“Its commitments for 2024 that have not got over the line yet are around €13m. Discussions and further work with local authorities will have to be done to resolve this.”

He said that the tenant-in-situ scheme “is continuing, but it needs to work for all local authorities”, which Mr Gould disagreed with, saying that the scheme is not continuing in Cork, and asking once more for a commitment that the necessary funding be provided, which he did not get.

Mr Gould told The Echo afterwards that this was his second time raising the issue in the Dáil, and “for the second time, there were no answers”.

“I asked him for a yes-or-no answer,” he said. “Would the Government release the money and save 33 families from homelessness? He could not answer that. That is shocking.

“These are 33 families, many of whom had tuned in to this debate, who are still without answer.

“The fear and stress this Government has caused these families over the last few weeks is beyond scandalous.

“It is time to end this now and provide the funding.”