Mayor to appeal over unused housing

THE mayor of the country’s largest local authority has said he will make a direct appeal to the Minister for Finance to allow unused housing stock to be used to ease homelessness.

Mayor Ciaran Byrne of the Labour Party said there was approximately 1,000 empty housing units, as well as unfinished developments in Fingal, which encompasses much of north and west Dublin.

He said these buildings were not being used at a time when the Government had “massaged” homelessness figures in the local authority area.