Government will fund local authorities to buy 1,500 derelict and vacant homes
Each local authority has submitted a list of properties to the Department of Housing that it deems suitable for purchase.
Over 1,500 derelict and vacant homes have been identified by local authorities across the country for purchase with an acquisition cost of €437m.
Cabinet agreed to meet 100% of the costs for local authorities to acquire long term vacant and derelict properties under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF).
This is an increase from 75% funding in previous calls.
Each local authority has submitted a list of properties to the Department of Housing that it deems suitable for purchase.
The intention is that properties acquired by local authorities will be offered for sale on the open market to individuals who commit to return the properties to use within agreed timelines.
In total, local authorities have identified 1,546 properties.
The third round of funding support through the scheme will be specifically designed to address long-term vacancy and dereliction.
The fund is used to target regeneration and rejuvenation projects in Ireland’s five cities and other large towns.
But now Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has got approval to add towns with a population of 10,000, or at least 2,500 jobs in the area, to the third funding call of the programme.
It was launched as part of the last National Development Plan, with an initial investment of €2bn for the period 2018 to 2027, but this was extended to 2030.
Cabinet also gave approval for the text of the energy bill — the Government announced late last year it would introduce measures to address windfall gains in the energy sector, in light of the extraordinary profits being made following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The text of the bill approved by cabinet will allow for a temporary solidarity contribution in 2022 and 2023.
Taxable profits which are more than 20% above the baseline period from 2018 to 2021 will be subject to a rate of 75%. It is projected to raise between €200m to €450m depending on gas prices and other factors.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Helen McEntee informed Cabinet on the annual report of the committee appointed to monitor the effectiveness of the Garda Diversion Programme for 2021.
The Garda Diversion Programme provides a system of formal and informal Garda cautions for young offenders.
All children aged between 12 and 18 who commit an offence must be considered for admission to the programme.
It found the number of children referred was 8,514 — an increase of 4% on 2020.
Of those, 78% of children were male, with 22% female. 8,888 children received formal or informal cautions, an increase of 51% on 2020.
The overall picture in the five years 2017-2021 is that fewer than 20,000 crime incidents for children occur annually, with an average of about 9,139 children referred for consideration as part of the Garda Diversion Programme.
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