More than €7m paid out to refurbish vacant properties in Cork 

Funding in excess of €7m was paid out to people in Cork under the vacant property refurbishment grant this year.

Minister for housing James Browne has confirmed that more than 6,300 homes have been brought back into active use across Ireland since the launch of the scheme in 2022.

Since its inception, a total of 14,377 applications for the grant were approved, of which 6,312 grant payments were made upon completion of works, totalling €348.6m.

Grant proving 'highly effective', says minister 

Mr Browne said these figures show that the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is “proving to be a highly effective measure”.

“It gives people support to refurbish properties that might otherwise have remained empty, [and] I want to encourage this,” said Mr Browne.

This year, between April 1 and June 30, 169 applications were made under the scheme across Cork city and county, of which 127 were approved and two rejected.

The majority of applications were made to Cork County Council — 126 — all of which were approved by the local authority, followed by 43 applications made to Cork City Council, of which one was approved.

During this timeframe, 32 grants were paid out by Cork City Council on completion of works, totalling over €1.8m.

A further 100 grants were paid out by Cork County Council, valued at over €5.8m; this brought the total value of grants issued to Cork applicants this year to €7.6m.

Additionally, there were five applications made to both Cork city and county councils for the vacant above the shop grant — two in the city and three in the county — of which none were approved, rejected, or paid out.

There were also two expert advice grant applications made to both local authorities, of which none were approved, rejected, or paid out.

Mr Browne said the number of homes being brought back into use “demonstrates the real impact that targeted investment can have”.

“Six previously vacant properties are being brought back into active use every working day across Ireland,” Mr Browne said.

“This is what I want to see. I do not accept properties being left needlessly idle in a housing crisis.

“Since I became minister, I have lasered in on the levels of vacancy and dereliction in this country, and not just in our cities either.

“We have to bring homes that already exist back into use. They are there,” he added.