Almost 500 social homes are vacant in Cork city and county

There are nearly 500 empty social homes in Cork city and county — and the city has by far the worst long-term vacancy rate in Ireland, latest figures show.

Across Cork, 129 properties have been vacant for less than six months, 134 for six months to a year, 119 for 12 to 18 months, and 113 for more than 18 months, according to Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from Cork city and county councils.

The figures were released as Taoiseach Micheál Martin said in the Dáil last month: “Local authorities take too long to release homes that have been vacated.”

“Voids should be filled fairly quickly. It should happen within a week or two of the house being vacated unless there is some structural issue. In the majority of cases, there are no structural issues because families have been living in them already.”

In Cork city, there are currently 345 vacant social homes, up from 342 in April, while figures for the number of properties empty the longest have not improved.

Cork city has the second highest amount of vacant social homes in Ireland, behind only Dublin city, which has considerably more houses.

A total of 3.14% of Cork’s social homes are vacant, the fourth highest percentage in the country.

Cork City Council is also the only local authority with more than 100 properties vacant for over a year.

This is more than double the next poorest performer.

Cork County has an overall vacancy rate of 1.8%, just below the national average of 1.82%.

While just 36 properties are vacant for over a year, out of a total of 150 vacant properties, this includes three properties vacant for two-and-a-half to three years, one vacant three to three-and-a-half, and two vacant three-and-a-half to four years.

The information released under FOI also includes details on maintenance budgets, and shows that Cork city’s total maintenance budget for 2025 is €20,860,800, while Cork County has budgeted €11,848,057 for the year.

This is broken down into planned and reactive maintenance, meaning upkeep work that is scheduled in advance, and repairs required as a result of a problem. Cork city has budgeted €3,366,935 for planned maintenance and €17,493,865 for reactive, while Cork County has budgeted €671,250 for planned and €11,176,807 for reactive maintenance.

Cork city has received 18,520 maintenance requests so far this year, representing 169% of the homes it owns, while Cork County received a total of 19,743 maintenance requests, or 237%, second only to Kilkenny (238%) — the totals are more than 100% due to multiple requests for repairs on the same homes.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North-Central Thomas Gould told The Echo: “There is nothing more insulting to those impacted by the housing emergency than the sight of a perfectly good home left empty.

“Each of these homes should have a family living in them, children growing up in those four walls. Instead, these homes are empty and children are growing up in hotels. That is beyond scandalous,” Mr Gould said.

“Cork city and county councils should be funded to do their job. Instead, red tape and bureaucracy, coupled with underfunding, leaves homes empty for years in Cork, and 99 homes in Cork city have been empty for longer than two years. This is a scandal.”

A spokesperson for Cork City Council told The Echo that it has a dedicated team managing the repair of vacant properties, which has led to “significant reduction” in ‘void’ properties between 2023 and 2025.

They added: “It is important to recognise that Cork City Council prioritises the return of properties with the least work required, with the aim of returning the maximum number of houses each year.

“This can lead to properties requiring extensive repairs, such as fire damaged houses, requiring longer return times.”

A total of 196 properties have been empty for more than a year, including 97 vacant for 12-18 months, and 99 vacant for between 24 and 30 months, meaning 57% of its vacant social homes have been vacant over a year.