€1.3m to fix local vacant housing units

This funding will enablethe local authority in Cavan to fix 86 vacant housing units, and upgrade 47 more in neighbouring Monaghan.

Almost €1.3 million in funding allocated to Cavan County Council will facilitate the improvement works to more than 80 vacant local housing units.

The funding has been announced by Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, who is allocating €1.297m to Cavan and €712,000 to Monaghan County Council for their respective 2021 housing voids programme.

This funding will enablethe local authority in Cavan to fix 86 vacant housing units, and upgrade 47 more in neighbouring Monaghan.

Welcoming the funding, Cavan/Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith said: “The necessary refurbishment to be undertaken with this funding will enable these 133 houses to be allocated to people on the Councils’ housing lists.”

Adding that it is “wrong” to have so many houses vacant when there is such a housing shortage, Deputy Smith though said the programme will be “very beneficial” in both Cavan and Monaghan.

“The need to bring back to habitable condition vacant council houses is an issue I have raised with successive Housing Ministers and I am very glad that Minister O’Brien in less than a year has made substantial funding available to local authorities to make necessary progress in this area. This year’s significant programme of work along with last year’s successful scheme will make a real difference,” stated Deputy Smith.