Just 21 vacant property refurbishment grants drawn down

The vast majority of these drawdowns have taken place between July and September this year, with 16 being provided in the three months.

No drawdowns have been made in Cork City Council and Cork County Council, despite 130 applications being approved across both areas. The most drawdowns have been made in local authorities in Limerick, Kildare, and Wexford.

The scheme allows people to avail of up to €50,000 in grants to renovate a vacant property and up to €70,000 to renovate a derelict property.

'Beset with problems'

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the fact that just 21 grants have been drawn down shows that the scheme is “badly designed” and “beset with problems”.

Mr Ó Broin accused Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien of deliberately leaving the figures out of the most recent quarterly Housing for All report, adding that lenders were not engaged with before the scheme was announced.

“When it was launched last year, Minister O’Brien had not engaged with mortgage lenders,” said Mr Ó Broin. “As a result, applicants were unable to draw down their mortgages or grant until issues between the pillar banks and Department of Housing were resolved early this year.

“The scheme has also been heavily criticised by applicants as the grant is paid in arrears, meaning that applicants have to front up the money and claim the grant after the works have been completed and paid for. 

"In many cases, applicants do not have this cash upfront and this is a barrier to accessing the funding.”