Council responds to empty houses criticism

One in almost every 56 council houses in County Cavan have been boarded up for more than a year.

That’s according to Cavan Sinn Féin Senator Pauline Tully. She claims there are 81 vacant council homes in the county.

Of those, 25 have been lying vacant for up to six months, while 16 have been unoccupied for from between six to 12 months and 40 are vacant for between 12 and 18 months.

Calling the statistics “insulting” to those struggling to find homes during the ongoing housing crisis, Senator Tully said “this is beyond scandalous”.

“Families in Cavan are crying out for homes while perfectly good homes have been left to rot,” she said in a statement to the Celt.

Cavan County Council responded by saying that returning vacant houses back into use, “continues to be a very high priority for the local authority”.

In 2024, Cavan County Council returned 61 vacant houses back into use and a spokesperson for the local authority told the Celt that construction work has been competed on five of the houses Senator Tully mentions in her statement.

Blaming government bureaucracy for the situation, Senator Tully said: “Cavan County Council should be funded to do their job. Instead, red-tape and bureaucracy coupled with underfunding leave homes empty for years in Co Cavan.”

Speaking about how families are rearing children in emergency accommodation and adult children are emigrating because they can’t get on the Irish property market, Pauline Tully said: “The reality is that this is an issue in all local authorities and in far too many communities because of government failings.

In its response, Cavan County Council pointed out it owns a portfolio of more than 2,250 houses and there is an “on-going process of bringing vacant council houses back into use".

In a statement to the Celt, a local authority spokesperson said: “When a house becomes vacant, the Council will avail of the opportunity to carry out improvement works to the house, and in some cases energy upgrade works."

Works have commenced to return a further 24 of the houses highlighted by Senator Tully back into use and “arrangements are in place to commence work on many of the remaining properties also", the council statement read.