Plans to form derelict restoration and vacant shop grants in motion, says minister

In an interview with the Irish Examiner,Mr Browne said he wants to see an acceleration of returning derelict and vacant properties into use.

“We’ve got an awful lot of homes and properties that are vacant across the country,” Mr Browne said.

“They already have the services. They’re near the schools, they’re near the shops.”

It is understood that up to €100,000 will be made available to people seeking to renovate either shops or apartments above the shop.

So many provincial towns do have empty shops. Unfortunately, that’s a characteristic of online shopping — but we want to bring life back into those town centres 

He said his proposals for grants regarding in and above the shop restoration would be coming to Cabinet in the “next couple of weeks”.

The introduction of so-called “over the shop” grants were initially proposed in 2021, but did not manifest during the last government. 

However, the idea resurfaced when Fianna Fáil included the proposal in its general election manifesto in 2024.

Staged payments

Mr Browne said he is currently conducting a review of existing vacant and derelict grants to see if it is possible to introduce staged payments for recipients.

At present, vacant property grants are capped at €50,000. Derelict property grants are capped at €70,000. These grants are paid once the works are completed.

“It’s currently not set up for a staged payment process and was not really envisaged to be one," Mr Browne said.

The current set-up is quite legally challenging in that area, but that’s what I’m looking at and trying to bring an alternative view on it

“Is there any other way to do that kind of staged process, because I want to see young single people and couples being able to access that?

“That is a bit of a challenge in terms of the up-front funding. I’m very conscious of that," he added.

Mr Browne said he is determined to either introduce a staged payment system or allow for an “early payment”.

“It’s not as big a challenge in some of the more rural areas, where properties are a little bit cheaper, but certainly is a real challenge in our cities for people to be able to benefit [from] the vacant and derelict [grants] and to use them as their own homes.”

The housing minister said he wants to bring a “pragmatic” approach to his brief. He said that while Government will deliver a new housing plan, he is not waiting for it to take actions.

“I wanted to be the minister for housing because I believed I could bring a sense of direction in terms of delivery on the ground," he said. 

"It’s what I did over in the Department of Justice when you look at the gambling legislation, look at the reform of youth justice. That’s what I wanted to bring to housing.”

He said he is not afraid to take on a “real challenge”, and this is why he wanted the brief.

He confirmed the changes to An Bord Pleanála, as set out in the new Planning and Development Bill, would take effect within the next “two weeks”.

This change, which will rename the planning authority to An Coimisiún Pleanála, will introduce new statutory timelines for planning decisions.